


it's in a million books (it's in a million looks)

by Gabby



Category: Jurassic Park (Movies), Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Falling In Love, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Movie(s), Romance, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Tags May Change, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-04-03 20:38:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4114192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gabby/pseuds/Gabby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the disaster of the I-Rex, Owen Grady has to go on with his life on the island and pick up the pieces with his pack in the aftermath of it all.</p><p>Of course, this would be when he meets his soulmate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so, I have only ever watched the trailers and accompanying clips for Jurassic World and I have no idea how this might go. All I know is that Chris Pratt is boss and I do what he says. Kidding! I'm kidding! But, seriously, I am so looking forward to the movie and I have a few ideas as to where this might end up. Hope you like it! :))
> 
> P.S. Also, my first shot at writing in the Soulmates 'verse so, be gentle... And the *points above* note might be heavily redacted if I end up seeing the movie before finishing this because as mentioned, I have not seen it yet and only have the promotional material to work with here so, this is essentially a one-off obviously of the aftermath of what might have happened in the events of the movie. Hope it doesn't screw it up for you.
> 
> The title is from the song Creeper by ADHDS.

Owen Grady grows up with a gift of interacting with animals.

Not like he has a psychic link to them or anything - no, nothing like that - it's just... they take to him and in turn, he gravitates towards that kind of interaction. As a little boy, he's just no good with socializing amongst his peers. And as a result, he spends more time with his family pets than ever with kids who never wanted to his friends to begin with.

Alfie, their golden retriever, has more understanding of him than anybody ever could, he believes.

When he's ten-years-old, he gets sit down by his mom and she tells for the first time about soulmarks.

She tells him that his soumates words will start to develop possibly after he hits puberty.

She also tells him that when he grows up and meets her, he'll just know. That along with her words, divine intervention or whatever will help him understand it immediately.

How would he know? Will she be nice? Will she understand him and his love for animals?

And anyway, he barely even likes girls.

(he thinks and says that strongly at the time because he is still two years off from believing girls don't, indeed, have cooties so...)

And what words will they be? And what makes his mom think he'll even get his mark?

He'd learned at school that one in ten people don't get a soulmark in their lifetime. One in ten people don't ever get to meet their soulmate.

People barely like him. How is he ever gonna meet somebody who will love animals like he does or even like him for being different.

 _That can change._ His mom says soothingly. _When you grow up..._

When he grows up, he still won't want a soulmate. Of that his ten-year-old self is certain.

And when has a kid ever been wrong?

 

 

 

In the summer after junior high at thirteen years of age and almost directly after growing a whole foot before starting high school, he wakes on a hot morning with his palm burning.

And it hurts. Like scalding sunburn but, worse and when he frantically goes to tell his mother, all she does is try and calm him down with a cool compress to his hand.

 _It's alright, honey, let it pass. This is good. It's gonna be okay._ She tries saying in the way she always has when something's gone wrong.

After what feels like eternity and the pain finally passes, he looks at his palm in surprise.

No real burn. No blistering. Just... an embarrassing red mark that he immediately wants to cover up.

He doesn't, though.

Now, the words will start developing in a few years now that he has the mark. The simple phrase that his apparent soul partner will utter upon meeting him. The sentence that will give that jolt and make him know.

Whatever transpires after the fateful meeting is all up to him basically. The universe could only do so much and it's on him and whatever girl is unlucky enough to be paired with him to do the rest.

Even at thirteen, he much rather not deal with it, to be honest.

He's learned since being sat down by his mom years before at school that no matter what you do, fate always finds a away to bring you to your soulmate eventually... no matter how unwilling you may be.

Which, incidentally, he doesn't.

This soulmate business sounds like a pain and he wants no part of it. Not now or ever.

According to the timing of his mark, he would probably meet her in several years time... giving him plenty of opportunity to _avoid_ it, as far he's concerned.

 

 

 

At eighteen, six years after waking up with that burning mark on his left palm, he leaves after graduating to join the Navy on a lark because why not?

After a while, he ends up specs op. He winds up working with dolphins, of all things. Trains them calmly. Rigorously and consistently. Earns the respect of his fellow men.

Most of the men have already found their soulmates.

They seem happy, he thinks. Gladly showing off the thin, reedy scars on the palms of their afflicted hands like trophies.

The few like him. Untethered and not wanting it, tell him he's better off.

Bitterness isn't something he swallows easily so, he mostly leaves it alone when it comes up.

The whole thing is more than a little hard to forget when he's got a reminder literally printed on his fucking palm. A goddamn token of his eighteenth birthday. 

The words _that seem dangerous, are you sure that's safe?_ is stamped permanently and unevenly on his flesh and more often than not he finds himself tracing the words when he's alone or something goes wrong.

He doesn't sweat it.

He still doesn't want it. At all.

This is just... solace.

He's had more than his fair sure of woman in his life already but, he hardly sticks around afterward and so, he has no girl waiting for him. Or hell, even a girl hating him at home.

This is just a comfort thing, really.

Honestly. He doesn't want that.

Fate can kiss his ass.

Besides, who's to say he still won't be the lucky few who don't meet their soulmate?

Who knows? He might be.

 

 

 

On another hot morning, at thirty-five, he finds out he's very wrong.

It's been nearly a month since the I-Rex disaster. The decimated park has been re-growing itself. They've been hiring new people and re-hiring the crazy few who would come back after everything. Messing with nature, as he'd known it would, cost them a lot of things and lives in the process and they're still trying to rebuild the pieces of what remains. Masrani is firing on all cylinders when it comes to damage control as any man with tons of money who's invested in an island with a formerly extinct species living on it would be and Claire Dearing has jumped ship after getting herself and her nephews to safety in the aftermath of the Indominus Rex.

 _This is what they get, really._ He thinks. _They is what they get for fucking with the natural order of things._

It's one thing to work from a possible DNA in a sample they find inside of fossilized fly of all things but, it's quite another to mingle genetics as you see fit to suit your own needs.

In the mean time, he tries moving on. Taking care of his girls. Continuing to train them. Watching them develop. Grow older. Sharper.

That abomination had controlled them to the point of nearly having them turn on him and that's something he will not let stand.

Though, these are easily the last thoughts on his mind when he wakes up several years after having been soulmarked, with his palm burning for the second time in his life.

And if possible, it hurts even _worse_ than the first time. That awful sunburn-like sensation now feeling a hole burning in the center of his palm. Like some asshole pouring acid on the skin and watching it bubble in down to the bone.

Basically it hurts like a motherfucker and he's too busy running around with a cold compress to calm it down and then going about his own routine - wake up, shower, maybe breakfast, who cares? - to even notice what it signifies until he's stepping outside of his bungalow in the early morning and about to reach his bike and pauses mid-step.

Fuck.

He'd learned about this throughout the years since getting marked and the following words growing in it's place: When the words burn up on his skin for the second time in life, that essentially means he's soon to meet his soulmate.

And soon meaning in the span of either the same day or in the coming days.

Double fuck.

And really, he's definitely not in the mood, the state of his life being what it is and all that, but he literally has no goddamn choice.

Either he meets her of his own free will or the universe will find some kind of fucked way to bring him to her or her to him.

Somehow, regardless of what he thinks of this whole soulmate business, he sincerely hopes it isn't somebody who hates him or finds his job bizarre or him just plain crazy.

(he also secretly - _very_ deep down - hopes that he doesn't walk into an awkward situation like she's already in a relationship or is married or whatever because he has no idea how this fated bonding works and hopes against hope that it won't have him pushed into something that's more trouble than it's worth)

He works on an island with pre-historic animals. He's imprinted on a pack of velociraptors. He's _literally_ the Alpha. Some people still call him insane to his _face_.

Who would wanna get within ten feet of that?

He has no clue and hopes it doesn't blow up in his face.

 

 

 

He finds out exactly that a week after that morning.

Ever since, he'd just been going about his business. Treating the passing days as though nothing has changed. Mainly it hasn't and it's never gonna as far he's concerned. Nope. No way. Nothing will change if the fates allow him to have anything to do with it. Nothing at all.

He also re-enforces that it has nothing to do with nerves.

That he's most definitely _not_ anxious about meeting her - his soulmate - for the first time.

Because he's not. There's rationally no reason to be. He's got no plans of getting off the island any time soon and so, for practicality's sake, she's gonna be the one to come here and anybody coming to this island willingly shouldn't really all that up his ass about the park and his work.

It wouldn't matter anyway. He tells himself as he visits the girls.

"Everybody sleep well?" He asks, as they chuff and make noise upon his arrival. "Good. That's what I like to hear." He adds with a smile as he pets their snouts in greeting.

When he pulls his hand away, it throbs - like the all mighty burn but, much... _less_ \- and he flexes his hand in response, feeling something new and odd take root in his body just then. A spiking of awareness in the center of all that he is and suddenly, he just knows.

Later, he wouldn't even be able to tell you how he'd gotten from point A to point B but, abruptly he's on the move and walking without clear direction towards the other side of the island. His foot almost running without his permission.

He ends up at the greeting center that has somehow survived the disaster of a month ago and sees a few people piling out of a jeep.

It's two men and a woman.

He also seesTracy - whom is responsible for the new hires and whom he actually likes but, he knows it's not her - directing them towards the center and without a second thought, he follows.

He ends up blending into the small group and his hands is throbbing as he does.

He's behind them and unseen, really, so he can't get a good look at the people exactly and he no impulse to do so and-

Oh, great. Tracy just seen him. Awesome.

"Owen!" She greets with the biggest smile you could ever see aimed in his direction and he's certain he only ends up grimacing back. "Nice of you to join us!" The whole group turns in his direction and yeah, this is just a good start. "Everyone, this is Owen. He works with the raptors on the other side of the island."

"Like the velociraptors?" He hears from one end.

"How do you work with them?"

"That's crazy! Are you serious?!"

And on and on and on.

This isn't new to him. These questions. He's heard so many variations of them that he's hardly ever surprised anymore.

Throughout the chaos of questions however, someone actually raises a hand and he points without thinking. "Yeah?"

"That seems dangerous." She says thoughtfully. "Are you sure it's safe?"

He takes her in. Small. Dark hair up in a messy bun. Big, intelligent blue eyes looking at him inquisitively. Pouty mouth pursed in afterthought. Dressed in muted, jungle colors that wouldn't have drawn anyone else's attention.

Anyone except him.

Because she is completely and utterly gorgeous.

They meet eyes and _oh_ , here it is. He can almost hear her breath catch from where he stands as though _she_ knows _he_ knows and shit, this isn't fair.

His palm is burning again. His whole body is tingling from the inside out. And his heart feels like it's been blown to pieces. His breath feeling caught in tangles inside his lungs.

Ladies and gentlemen, he's just met his soulmate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!!! :)) I have since seen the movie after having completed the first chapter and... IT WAS AMAZING! I mean to each his or her own with their opinion but, I personally fucking loved it! You ALL have to see it!! 
> 
> That being said and without revealing any spoilers (because I would _never_ do that to you), suffice it to say, my story, in terms of the movie plot, has become more cannon divergent and so, that's the way it's gonna be treated so... Enjoy! ;)

Annie Wells had never once, after having taken the communications position at the Jurassic World resort, thought that this would happen.

She had gotten her soulmark after her tenth birthday - straight on the heels of getting her first period, no less so, yikes! not her favorite week during that time at all - waking up to her burning palm in the early morning hours before her alarm could ring to get ready for school and frantically going to her dad who had proceeded to be the absolute worst at calming her down, his face white and pale as he'd pressed a ice pack to her hand.

She'd also remembered it because it had been freezing as her steel-worker father drove her to the bus stop. The first snow fall of the season having come the night before. Signifying fluffy white lawns and the promise of her holiday following her second favorite.

Her favorite time of the year combined with the milestone most parents (her dad included) either dreaded or looked most forward to as their children grow older.

And her father dreaded it for good reason: He and her mother had been soulmates and apparently the woman's threshold for parenting ended the minute her daughter is born and then, abandoning her newborn baby and other half is an okay thing to do.

Her poor father had tried his best, she knew, afterward. Enough to live on through the strain of a nearly broken soul-bond in order to raise her and get her through school and college to get her degree in Animal Studies.

She loves animals. Horses, more than anything, when she had been little and spending summers at her grandparent's farm. The dogs and cats she fed in secret in her neighborhood.

It had actually been during one such summer at fifteen that her words had imprinted into her flesh.

The phrase _I don't know, it depends on what your definition of danger is_ had been seared and branded in ugly lines along her palm and god, who the hell is she gonna meet if those are the words he'd say to her for the first time?

She'd also come to understand throughout the years that her dad maybe hoped that she would be one of the few to never get a mark. Never get to meet her soulmate.

Which, on the one hand, might seem harsh to others but, to her, it had only been her father trying to keep her safe. Trying to prevent her from suffering the same heartbreak that he had.

A thinly-wound soul-bond, she'd heard, is akin to terminal illness almost. In a way. Like existing in a cancer that'll never take you until it does.

And if your soulmate dies, it's heard to be a fate worse than death.

If you happen to survive it at all, that is.

And that's not something she wants to wait for in her life. Ever.

Which is one of the many she had taken the job at Control Center in Costa Rica. In a facility containing formerly extinct pre-historic creatures. Herbivores and carnivores alike.

Here, she had thought, had been more than an opportunity to avoid her fate - that the universe could, at least, see that she doesn't want this - and she'd be  lucky enough to not meet him.

And she's going to work in Jurassic World, of all places, so really, what are the chances?

Apparently, thepa chances are plenty.

 

 

 

So, she here she stands among her tour group of fellow new hires in Central America, on Island Nublar, with her two new roommates nearby and staring up into the face of a man she's never met before yet who's making her insides spiral as he looks at her in utter shock as though she'd just struck him.

Her palm is throbbing. The way it has been since the island had come into view from the small plane that'd brought her here. That should have tipped her off.

She knows what this means.

Shit.

Then, the shock melts off the stranger's face and he says. "I don't know." He stands straight and god, is he tall, crossing his arms over a broad chest before adding. "It depends on what your definition of danger is."

Her palm is burning. For the second time in her life.

Her palm is burning and her heart is racing and her spine is tingling in awareness and they're meeting eyes now and oh no, this is her soulmate.

He's... not what she'd expected.

 _Tall_. Is all her dumb mind could produce as her eyes widen and matches his earlier expression, she's sure. He's _very_ tall. Above her by more than a foot. Big. Broad chest and shoulders that makes her palms itch to reach up and explore.

And what a face. She adds internally. Symmetrical. Ruggedly handsome.

She wants to rub parts of her body on that face.

Shit, she's in trouble.

Eventually, their staring contest is broken up by Nancy, the woman in charge of the group, and really not wanting to deal with this despite being it being very tall, real, and right in front of her face, she allows herself to be led away by her roommates and break off eye contact with the scruffy stranger.

Her soulmate.

Fuck.

"Who was that?" One of said roommates, Steph, asks as they walk with the group. Whispering near her shoulder.

Out of her two housemates, she had known Steph the longest. Meeting her for almost two weeks before leaving for the island after having advertised for roommates on a site for fellow new hires coming to Costa Rica and the two had hit it off enough that they'd sort of become friends and so maybe...

"I'll tell you later." She utters back low and then nodding before turning her attention back to Nancy, their guide.

She peaks behind her, though.

The stranger - her soulmate - is gone.

 

 

 

She doesn't see him again until a couple hours later, after she's settled into her house and eating with her friends. Even as he's not that far from her thoughts.

But, that's later. Now, however...

"He's your soulmate?!" Beth, her other roommate, exclaims in surprise from her perch on their new couch, big spectacles taking up residence on her nose.

She winces and then glowers at her newest friend. "Yes, Beth, he is. Yell it to the whole island, why don't you?"

The other woman just waves it off casually. "Whatever." A silence forms then as she continues to unpack and continues to get stared at until she finally can't take it anymore and turns to face the inquisitive-looking brunette. "What?"

"What are you gonna do?"

"Nothing. I'm not gonna do anything." She answers curtly, opening up a box of ceramics her grandma had given a few years before. "I'm not leaving. I'm not going anywhere. I am doing nothing absolutely nothing."

Beth scoffs. "You know that's not how it works."

"Yup. I know. Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"You don't have to complain about it. I mean... and no disrespect, but that is one of the hottest men to ever walk on God's green earth."

"Alright."

"He has a face made for so many things."

She knows that but, says nothing and continues her task, hiding her laugh behind a cough.

"He's sex on two legs."

"OK."

"Bet he has a big-"

"Oh my god, stop!" She spins and tosses a balled up newspaper at her friend's head. Outwardly laughing now. Even though her mind has gone to the most filthy places now, thanks to her. "Quit being an idiot and help me with this."

"Well then, let's hurry. I'm so hungry!"

"You're always hungry."

And that is how she finds herself at one of the island's eateries - a Mexican place where she's intending to load up on nachos, tacos, and burritos in order to not think about her current situation - with Steph and Beth trying to get as much out of her as possible.

"What was his name again?" One of them asks the other even though she's certain they know damn well what his name is because she hasn't been able to stop thinking about it.

About him.

_Owen. Owen. Owen. Owen. Owen..._

She knows few things about the process of a soul-bonding in it's initial stages. Apparently, it's one of the little unknowable things about this whole thing and the only fact about it is that it's different with everybody.

The one big thing she's heard is that it's like a string pulled taut in her chest. Her palm is burning lightly. Her body is tingling again. It's uncomfortable and almost begging her to seek him.

Is this what this is like? Because if so, it sucks.

Jesus, five minutes. Five minutes of eye contact and she's a big mess.

Then, abruptly... it lessens. To an extent. Like putting that ice pack on her palm when she'd been a little girl. Light relief but, enough.

"Hey, are you okay?" Beth asks with concern as she gets with slight stumble.

"Yeah, you look a little pale."

She waves them off, her breath short and head a bit dizzy. "I'm fine. I just have to-" Mid-conversation, she turns around, intending to find a bathroom somewhere in order to calm this whole thing down.

And walks nose first into a very firm lower chest.

"Whoa." The -vibration of a very male voice sings through her as a strong pair of hands grab a hold of her arms when she nearly falls back on her ass. "You okay?"

And she knows just who this is. The body holding her to him is tall, strong, and smells really good.

Goddammit.

"I'm fine." She hears herself before realizing it and then amending much louder. "I mean, I'm okay." She realizes she's been staring at his chest this whole time and god, embarrassing so, she finally looks up into his stupid, handsome face and says. "Hi."

"Hi." He greets, the corners of his mouth curling up in a way that makes her blood burn in her veins.

Shit, is she in trouble.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! :) I swear I'll try to make the chapters longer as it goes on. Just needed to get the intros out of the way.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go again... I have very much enjoyed the story so far and am immensely grateful for the feedback and support. Enjoy!
> 
> UPDATE: Changed the OFC's name a bit. Just felt it needed it.

Honest to any god he may or may _not_ pray to, that Owen had not gone to seek the woman - his _soulmate_ , dammit - he had encountered earlier. Nope. Not at all.

He had just been grabbing lunch with fellow wranglers. Honest. Seriously.

There's no part of him that'd wanted to see her again.

And curious? _Pfft_ , not this guy.

He had, however, been eating at one of the island's hot spots. His favorite Mexican place in recent years, in fact, and had been eager for some hot enchiladas and guac and chips when it had hit. Just like that.

He hadn't known much of the whole soul-bonding thing, especially in it's early development, but one of the few facts he does know is that proximity to your soulmate makes things... weird. After you've met said soulmate, apparently, it would be like a taut string around your chest. An odd, uncomfortable pressure that won't let up until you're near your bonded other half and then will settle afterward, once the bond has set in.

To him, it just fucking sucks. And is horribly inconvenient.

Thanks, fate.

And he's getting the brunt of all of this. That prickling of awareness. The slow fizzle on his palm. The tight feeing in his chest.

It's everywhere. All over the place until it's not anymore.

Things unexpectedly... calm down. Settle.

And it takes him but, a second to realize what has happen.

He's not as fully aware of his head snapping up - like one of his girls standing at attention for him during a demonstration - and searching. Senses sharpened. Heightened.

And then he finds her.

She's here. With two other woman at a table right across from him. Looking faintly amused and annoyed and... tightly wound.

And he feels odd. The pressure lessened some. The blooming burn on his palm calmed down a bit.

But, the awareness, though? It's stronger. All his attention is centered on this one person. Girl. Woman.

Soulmate.

"Owen, are you alright?" He hears Susan, the mosasaurus trainer, ask in concern at his right and he's able to (not without a little effort) take his eyes off his object of fascination and turn to her. And Frank. And Barry. And Lou.

All looking at him like he's gone insane.

"What are you looking at?" Lou turns in her seat and following his still attentive eye line. "Oh!" She utters brightly and spins back around with wide eyes, big and surprised, at the whole table. "Oh my god, is that her? Your soulmate?"

"If I'm not mistaken..." He grumbles as the rest of his companions turn to follow up at the spying game and when has this become a show?

"She's pretty." Susan says giddily, literally clapping her hands as though she's discovered gold.

"How did you even know who I was looking at?"

"Because you are not nearly as subtle as you think you are." Barry retorts, smirking.

"True!"

"So, very true..."

"I hate all of you." He says without any real venom as he's getting up from the table with purpose. "I'll see you guys later."

He ignores a scattering of jeers and mocking byes behind his back as he approaches the other table. Watching as his intended target gets up from her chair herself with a slight stumble with some concern, even as he can't explain why, and moves quicker to intercept before she could-

She turns and bumps face first into him.

And without much thought, he grabs at her arms to keep her from falling backward blindly.

"Whoa." He says, holding her steady as she rights herself. "You okay?"

This feels strange in that it doesn't. Holding her to him like this should feel like the weirdest thing he's ever done because he does not know this woman. He'd met her earlier in the day for five minutes and barely even that.

And now he's holding onto her in a manner that even he finds inappropriate, considering the circumstances.

She mumbles something into his shirt that he doesn't quite catch before seeming to shake herself out of it and then saying. "I mean, I'm fine." And looking up at him finally as he does tips his head and then-

-And then oh, he's staring down (way down because she's very tiny) at his soulmate.

She's even more striking up close, all rosebud mouth and pink cheeks and blue eyes and fuck, he's in trouble.

"Hi." She greets softly, all that burning curiosity he's felt for the couple of hours reflected back at him in her gaze. Feeling the exhale of her breath echo between them. Feeling a pull.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

"Hi." He replies, feeling the corners of his own mouth curl upward in what he hopes to be his most charming smile but, it wouldn't be the first time  _that's_ been an utter fail on his part.

"Um..." The woman kind of in his arms seems as out of sorts as he actually feels before she shakes it off and goes on. "Hi... I'm Annie." She adds with a strange expression of cautious hope... he thinks?

He locks onto those beautiful eyes of hers that beg for his attention. "Owen. My name is Owen." He elaborates like an idiot because of course, she knows that's his fucking name, why else would he say it?

He hasn't felt this awkward around someone since junior high.

"Should we leave you two alone then?" The voice kind of intrudes and bursts the tiny bubble they've put themselves in and suddenly reality is encroaching in on them and Owen rips his eyes away from the woman he's still holding onto - Annie, his mind supplies needlessly, Annie, your soulmate - to see a strawberry blonde and a darker-haired woman in glasses staring at them both.

At him with a conspiratorial, unabashed appreciation and questioning and at her, with gleeful knowing and yeah, he'd much rather not know what that's even about.

"Oh my god." She steps away in a manner that he reads as reluctant and of makes him feel better of his own inability to let his hand drop away from her with more effort than he's ever put into most things. "These are my roommates." She turns and gestures towards them. "Stephanie and Beth. Guys, this is my... soulmate." She hesitates to add the last part, he notes, even though he's pretty okay with her saying it.

He's becoming pretty okay with a lot of things, actually.

He's standing here, in a semi-full Mexican restaurant, knowing his friends are watching him and possibly laughing at his attempt to talk up his very oh-my-god-she's-even-more-unbelievable-up-close beautiful soulmate and interrupting her having lunch with her own social group at another table.

He should feel like an idiot. He _had_ felt like an idiot. But, right now, he's taking this as it comes.

"Hey." He says as politely as he could manage at the pair staring at him like they've never seen a man before. Raising a hand in a wave that probably looks as awkward as it definitely feels.

"You're that guy, right?" One of them asks while the other continues on. "The guy from the tour group?"

"Yep."

"The guy with the... raptors, is it?"

He nods again. "Guilty." He looks back down at Annie right at the moment she looks away from her friends to catch his eye. Faintly amused. Kind of apologetic.

He wonders if she's as chocked up with questions as her friends are.

"Actually..." He starts to say as she looks to be about to go back to her table. "...I came over because I was hoping we could talk."

Her face ticks up in surprise. "Talk?"

"Yeah. " He nods, clearing his throat before adding. "We could go somewhere more... quiet. Well... somewhat quiet." He amends because the place he's thinking of taking her is not really quiet, per say. But, it is his place. A place he's a whole hell of a lot more comfortable having this conversation at than here. "And we could talk there."

She stares at him for a very long time. Big, beautiful eyes encased in dark, feathery lashes that could probably cause a tropical storm if she linked them too hard, gazing at him in contemplation and all that open, sweet curiosity. The curiosity he's felt percolating inside of him ever since-

She blinks. Decisiveness visibly taking hold. "What do you have in mind?"

 

 

 

And that is how Owen Grady ends up biking it to the other side of the island with a complete stranger who just so happens to be his soulmate. Her little, strong hands clutching at his vest growing tighter and tighter each corner and curve he has to circle around. Her whole body a compact furnace at his back.

How could someone so small pack so much heat?

Regardless, he has no choice but, to not dwell on it as he starts to slow down into the area where the paddock lay and just a ride from his trailer - which hardly warrants a thought; he's not shooting for more than talk here but, there it is - and why he had thought to bring her here, he has not the faintest idea.

Honestly. He really doesn't. This is just the first place that'd come to mind.

He'll blame it on the goddamn bond. His searing curiosity going in reverse and wanting her to know more about him or whatever.

He's heard weirder things. One of the guys he'd known in the Navy had married his soulmate a week after meeting her.

The bond works in many mysterious ways. He'd heard once. It could go in a thousand different directions you could never, ever predict.

Well, he certainly could never predict this.

He creeps to a crawl near the paddock gates and after a minute, as he stomps the brakes, she shifts against him and he ignores the slide of her breasts over his shoulder blades as she lifts off, arms still (maybe _subconsciously_?) loosely settled around him. "We're stopping. Why are we stopping?"

"We're here."

"Here?" She says inquisitively, peering around as she lets him go when he gets off his bike and he has a funny feeling about that.

Though he's smart enough to put it aside and is more than happy to lend two helping hands to her as she tries to clumsily get off of it herself. A foot nearly getting caught on the bars of the bike before he takes her hands in his.

Another thing (among many more? god) he harshly shoves to the left is the electricity that shoots through his entire fucking arm at the touch. Slender, pale fingers curled in his grip like it's made to be there.

Not that he's thinking in those terms. Nope. Uh-uh.

"Where is here?" She asks with that tone - that tone fairly screaming _i'm unsure but, willing to go on a little faith with you_ , which he honestly shouldn't like as much he does - and he smiles at her in a way he knows is charming. Charming with a little sex thrown in for good measure. Angling his body towards her just so.

"I'll show you."

He gestures towards the very confused guards above to open the doors to reveal the paddock gates.

They know better than to ignore his orders and even with a woman they've never seen at his side, they do exactly what he wants.

He keeps his eyes on his soulmate as the gates unravel one by one in front of them.

And she seems... fascinated. Cautious yet interested.

Once the automatic gates reveal themselves and the paddock inside, with the greenery and dirt inside sans his pack, he takes one look at the young woman at his side, who looks with those curious eyes.

He takes a deep breath before letting it out in a loud whistle.

It takes a minute and in that time, Annie looks at him with this  _adorably_ scrunched up frown - adorable? shit, what is wrong with him? - giving the area a befuddled glance. "What's going on? Why are-"

And his girls come stampeding in like several freight trains from hell into view.

Blue, being who she is, of course, steps the closest to the gate at the sight of him. Delta settling not far behind her, snapping her teeth in recognition. Echo, mugging it up nearby, _hooing_ and _hawing_ her way forward. With Charlie the last to get in line somewhat, yellow gaze on her beta as though for instruction.

He whistles again and they all turn in perfect unison towards him.

Then, soon after, they catch of what they know to be the stranger at his side. Making little pithing sounds of interest in her direction instead of reacting with hostility which usually if they see someone they've never seen before.

Maybe they can smell his scent on her from the ride on the bike. Maybe their predatory instincts can weed out that she's his soulmate somehow.

He'll have to get on that after this.

When he, himself, glances at her, he's surprised at what he finds.

She looks pale, a little shaky, and something he has no clue how to label. He just knows it's not something he's seen on anybody's face in a long, _long_ time. At least, not on anybody who hasn't been made to train being around the girls for a while.

And even then...

"You wanna come up?"

When she turns to look at him, he gestures upward at the walkway.

A minute passes and then she nods eagerly. "Yes, I do."

He has no real idea as to why he's doing this. Bringing her here. Showing her the girls and having them see her so soon. On the same day he's met her for the first time.

And then, they're up and looking down at the girls squawking and making noise as Barry tries keeping them in line and after a few minutes of watching her look down at his pack with a mix of a little fear and a  _burning_ intrigue, he decides to speak up.

"What would you like to ask me?"

She starts as if she'd been lulled into some sort of state while watching the pack below, playing and chasing each other, in the warm afternoon light and she looks several shades of something just then before saying. "Well, for starters..." She gulps and then asks. "Am I allowed to be up here?"

The look in her eye is demanding he be honest so, with a smirk, he says. "No."

"Huh." She utters in afterthought as though she could have expected that and he's amused (pleased) by it. "Um..." Her brow furrows in concentration for a long, hard minute and then. "How long have you been with them?"

He looks down at his raptors, circling beneath in a slow familiar fashion and he knows, in their own way, that they're trying to suss out what's going on above them. Sizing up the stranger they've only just met who looks so cozy with their Alpha.

Okay, maybe he's projecting a little bit but, he knows his girls and their behaviors and he has a strong idea of what they're doing right now.

"Since they were born." He utters honestly. "I imprinted on them. The very first face they saw was mine."

"Oh." She says next to him and he looks to see her face lit up in surprise. Rosebud mouth formed in a perfect 'O' and his fingers tighten over the railing in response. "That's a long time."

"Yeah, it is. Anything else?"

Her eyes slide back down and he knows she's seeing the girls waffling around. Peaking up every now and then with such subtly he's taken aback when she says. "They've been circling around for a while now... What are they doing? Are they sniffing me out?" She adds with less fear and more genuine interest than anything else.

He looks to see Blue openly eyeing them now. "Maybe. Most likely."

"What do you mean?"

He shrugs, staring at the way her profile is engulfed in sunlight. Her pale skin probably warm to the touch now. Specks of red shining in her hair. _Luminous_ , he thinks unbidden. "My guess is they're trying to figure out why they didn't react with hostility when they saw you at first."

"What? They've never behaved like-"

"Not with someone who hasn't been here a while, at least." He manages firmly, despite the way his thoughts are running away from him with the possibilities and he hesitates before adding. "Listen, at best, the training has caught on to the point that they've learned to control their baser instincts or... they somehow sensed that you're my soulmate."

He finds it interesting, he thinks, the way her mouth slopes to the side and the expression in her eyes when he says _soulmate_. Refers to what they both are to each other for the first time and he finds himself wanting to know more.

As it is, his own instincts - the same instincts that caused him to have the bright idea of bringing her here - tell him not to push and he backs off as she turns to him fully with a hand settling on the railing next to his and when their fingers brush, his hand twitches.

She meets his eye straight-on this time. Propping her hip near the rail while a fist goes to the other. Those mesmerizing eyes starting to weaken him already. "Why did you bring me here?"

He gazes down at her. This beautiful, bright-eyed woman he already wants to know so much more about, in spite of his tendency to do the opposite half of the time. His normal impulse to avoid intimacy turning in on itself. Betraying him, for lack of a better term.

"I don't know." He finally says, peering into her face as her cheeks flush with pretty color though still maintaining steady eye contact.

"Oh." She breathes as her gaze falls down towards his lips. Which he does not miss. And he's the urge - this burning desire to-

 _Breathe_. He tells himself as she steps a bit away, putting space between them.

"That's good because I'm not so sure why I agreed to come here with you." She says, sighing and fiddling with her fingers a bit before looking back at him again with a careful, guarded expression. "And I'm not normally like that."

"What are you normally like?" He asks before he could talk himself out of it.

She breathes into the air between the two of them and nods her head. "I... I have a tendency to..." She jumps a bit on her feet, nerves bouncing off of her. "...I like taking things slow." She adds in a rushed exhale.

Ah. He doesn't know what he'd been expecting her to say but, it certainly hadn't been that. "Slow?"

"Slow." She repeats, nodding decisively. Up front. With determination. "I have always... liked taking things slow. With men." She elaborates at the look he knows is on his face. "I like taking my time. Getting to know someone. It makes things easier and to be honest, it has saved me from making really stupid decisions for most of my life so..." She says with a sharp little huff of a laugh that eases a pressure he hadn't realized had taken residence there in his ribcage.

Right next to the spot that had been pulled tight and taut earlier. The sensation, he now realizes, has been settled down into something warm and new. Their bond mending. Knitting and intertwining in the former tangles in his lungs.

There's a lot of things coming apart and back together again. He wants (and probably shouldn't) say at this very moment. Things going on inside him right now that he's being pushed to do.

Instead when he opens his mouth, what he says is. "I can do slow."

Her head tips up, neck craning to properly look at him. Still very careful, though he can see the nerves evaporating from that expressive gaze now. "Really?'

"Yeah. I mean, if you want." He quickly back paddles, suddenly unsure and not wanting to push. "If this..." He gestures between them. "...Is what you mean-"

"It is." She nods, mouth quirking upward in what promises to be a beautiful smile, he would imagine.

And it is quite the image in his head.

"OK." She nods, still biting back her smile, he notices because how could he _not_? "Deal?" She adds inquisitively and he tamps down a laugh as she holds a hand and she is so goddamn _beautiful_ but, he hides it away for now.

They can do this her way.

For now.

He takes her hand in his. Slender, white fingers tangling into his tanned callouses. Electricity seizing up again. "Deal."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, this turned out longer than I ever thought it would turn out... :) Shit, I hope you like it, I guess. I spent a lot of time on it. Thanks for reading!! :))


	4. Chapter 4

If she had known she would get this much shit by meeting Beth and Steph all that time ago and the agreeing to be roommates with them, Annie would have said hell no and taken her chances elsewhere on this island.

There's probably livable shacks all over it.

_"How was it?"_

_"He looks strong! Was it up against a wall or-?"_

_"Do you do it outdoors?"_

If she hadn't known any better, she would have thought that they honestly thought she had let a complete stranger (soulmate or not) drag her away to go have sex somewhere. Which, first of all, no and second... it's scary that, aside from the obvious, she couldn't find a reason as to why it's a bad idea.

Well, she'd been quite sure Steph had been genuinely curious and had assumed...

Anyway, nothing had happened except for the craziness that'd been him taking her to a raptor enclosure, who may _or_ not have sensed that they are soulmates. Which, y'know, great. It's not like it hadn't been trying enough to have met him on the very same day of starting a new job but, also, he trains dangerous, wild animals (long thought to be freakin' _extinct_ no less) who follow his orders.

Other than that, it had been fine. Pretty okay.

He hadn't taken her off to seduce and/or kill her. Thoughts that had passed way too late in her head as she'd ridden with him on that _machine of murder_ he calls a motorcycle.

And yeah, that's not something she can afford to dwell on at this very moment because it'll only serve to remind her of the experience itself. The breeze on her face and hair. The scent of nature and aftershave in her nose. The rumbling engine between her legs. Knowing that the only thing keeping her from toppling over had been the wall of muscle at her front.

 _Safety_. She'd thought.

A word she'd never associated with any guy in the past. She could keep herself safe. She'd make sure of it.

Ugh.

So, basically, she'd left with guy, guy had been on bike, and she'd needed to hold onto guy to keep from falling.

It's that simple. No deeper meaning there. Being soulmates guaranteed nothing. Including these stupid feelings she's been having.

She'd seen her dad go through it. Being soulmates doesn't change jack shit.

Speaking of which, she hadn't called the old man since arriving to the island a week before and now, she's gonna have to call him again and it's not even that much of a hardship. Really. She loves her dad. He'd even gotten himself a Skype account so, they could chat face to face. Just...

Just now she's gonna have to call her father - the man who had suffered so much because of his own fate - and tell him this bit of big news.

And it won't be like letting him know she'd made a new friend or even got a boyfriend (which makes him, _ugh_ , but tolerable) but, _hey, dad,_ _I found my soulmate, remember mom, how's work?_

Oh god. This is gonna suck.

"Please go to voice mail. Please go to voice mail..." She mutters rapidly under her breath as it rings and rings, shrieking in her ear. "Please go to voice-"

_"Hello?"_

Ah shit.

"Hi, dad." She utters, wincing at the overly loud cheery tone in her voice. The one day her father answers after one ring. The one goddamn day. "How are you?"

She can keep him distracted. She knows that and soon enough, he's telling her about Riggins, his newest hire at the factory who he could care less about in her mind yet her dad always did love a good story. Especially about people he's been more pushed to hire. People he often deems incompetent.

God love him but, he's really set in his ways.

Speaking of set in ways...

_"...And he's standing there, right? Like the big idiot that he is, just staring... staring blankly at the metal like he'd not been trained time and time again to know-"_

"Dad, I have news!" She blurts out because once he gets down the rabbit hole, it's more than difficult to pull him out, at least for a while, with these things.

A very telling silence follows on the other end of the phone line and for a brief moment, she almost would have believed he's hang up on her if it weren't for the breath she could clearly hear there. "Dad-"

_"Is it good or bad? Your news?"_

He sounds openly worried. Words she'd never thought would ever describe her father and she wonders, for one horrifying moment, if he's already figured it out. He had been there the morning of her soul-marking and then later when the words imprinted. He _knows_ the timing aspect of it all so, would he-

"I met him." She says anyway, hand tightening on her phone. "I... My soulmate. He's here. He works on the island."

Another very telling bit of quiet on his end.

Then. _"Who is it?"_

"I..." She starts, not really knowing what to say before blowing out a breath. "I only just met him. He seems nice." She settles on because that's one of the few things she could voice to her father. _Handsome. Dead sexy. Self-assured. Hotter than the sun._  They don't seem like the appropriate words to say right now.

Although... "He's _very_ confident. Virile." She just has to add and winces immediately thereafter.

"Not a bumbling idiot then?"

 _Unlike your exes._ He means and she knows well enough to pick up on.

Her dating history had always been composed of very specific types. More gangly, pale, and bean pole-y. Less brazenly masculine and outdoorsy.

She hadn't had a _ton_ of boyfriends really. But, she had dated her fair share to a point that it had dolled out a pretty monochromatic picture.

Enough that a man like Owen Grady, dropping into her life, added a _big and tall_ splash of color.

"Not as far as I've seen." She says, thoughts of intense green eyes and nose-tingling aftershave flying over her mind.

 Now's not the time.

 _"Hmm."_ He utters, apparently in thought, and then adds. _"What does he do?"_

"He's a wrangler." She answers immediately. "A trainer. He trains a few of his own animals." She adds, being purposefully vague and hoping he doesn't notice.

He does, of course. _"What kind of animals, bug?"_

She frowns. He hasn't called her bug since she'd been ten-years-old. After her mark. Which means... "Dad, you're actually taking this a lot better than I thought you would."

Her wonderful liar of a father heaves a put-upon sigh from the other end of the line. _"I'm not as sensitive as you think I am, missy."_

"Okay. Alright." She relents for the time being. "I mean, you _are_ but, okay."

A pause. Then. _"Annette."_

She cringes. Mostly because when he uses her full first name like that, it spells _annoyance_ for her. It's a thing with them. And she sighs before asking. "Yes, father?"

 _"You didn't answer my question."_ He points because why can't things be simple?

"What difference does it make?"

_"I just really want my only child and daughter to put my mind at ease by telling me that her soulmate is in fact training seeing eye dogs in the middle of an island away from civilization that is inhabited by pre-historic monsters-"_

"For god sake's, dad!" She rails, becoming a aggravated by his tone and words. "They're just animals. They deserve just as much as guerillas in a city zoo. I told you that. You know that."

 _"I just want a little peace of mind."_ He admits, as unfazed as ever. As though her support for any and all wild life is another tantrum. Even if he probably doesn't mean it as such. _"So, tell me, does he train seeing eye dogs or not?"_

She huffs out a sharp sound that she counts as a laugh. "Yeah, no. 'Fraid not."

He blows out his own trail of breath and the sound is odd, she has to admit. _"Well, what does he train, dear daughter of mine?"_

She rolls her eyes. Flinging up a hand he can't see. "He trains raptors, dad. Velociraptors. He wrangles them. They follow his lead."

_"Meaning... he is in charge of them?"_

"That's right." She says, biting her lip at thinking of her soulmate being master of his domain when he had taken her to the enclosure. The manner in which they had reacted to him with a well placed phrase or hand gesture.

_"I have to admit, that's a lot better than I imagined."_

"Uh, thank you?" She utters with more question than anything else.

 _"Welcome. Listen, I have to get back to it. I love you, bug. Be very careful over there."_ He says and she thinks he's talking about both Owen and her job in general. Chooses to believe it's both.

"Bye. I..." He hangs up on before she could finish. Typical.

He's never been very good at this whole phone deal. Even after all these years of actually having gotten one and clawing his way out of the nineties.

"I love you, too, dad." She utters over an empty phone line.

 

 

 

She's starting to ask herself a lot of things about this bond. Even more so since she'd met Owen for the first time the week before. She's still wondering about the logistics of it all.

Even though her dumb heart keeps insisting logic has very little to do with it.

Whatever. It's not as though Owen had been seeking her out anyway after that first meeting in the paddock.

After he had asked her a few safe personal questions (last name, her job, etc.,), he had dropped her off at her new house and with a charming smirk, he'd told her he would see her soon..

Soon apparently meaning more than a whole week.

Technically, it's not as though she hadn't seen him in more than that week exactly. She does work in the control room. Besides spending her whole day staring at cameras monitoring the park, listening to Lowery's ludicrous stories, and generally messing around with Beth and Stephanie out of boredom, that is.

She also got to see Owen whenever he's in range of the cameras. And there are a lot of them.

But, she does like the work, though. Aside from hands-on chores she'd been a part of at some of the zoos and facilities, she had mostly found herself in work that'd required observation and keen eyes and techno-know-how.

There is a reason she had gotten the job. She's good at it.

Except for now because she's got her mind on her soulmate and the fact that he hasn't made any sort of move at all. No action telling her how they should proceed because she has no idea.

She wonders if he'd taken the whole taking it slow thing to mean stop altogether. She wonders if a man like him - _sex on two legs_ , Beth had said - is even capable of taking anything at a snail's pace.

Not a very fair assessment because she doesn't know him but, well, there it is.

Nevermind, this endless pulse she keeps feeling. The bond reminding her of his presence on the island. Nearby and yet so far.

Regardless, she is at work so, it's not as though she can afford to-

"Annie Wells?"

She turns to see Morris, one of the park handlers, standing at the open door of the control room.

"Yes?"

He eyes her and she realizes this is the first instance they've actually spoken to each other. "You have a visitor."

"OK." She settles on, befuddlement in her voice. "Who is it?"

She swears he's almost smiling as he says. "Owen Grady."

And doesn't that make her day go kablamo.

And causes her to ask herself if he somehow knows he's on her mind. Is that another aspect of the bond?

When she thanks Morris and turns to get up, her cheeks pink and warm, the entire room is staring at her and she realizes they've just bore witness to the fact that she is getting a visit from a raptor wrangler who would normally have no business being in these parts.

"What?" She retorts, uncomfortable with the attention. "Don't look at me. I don't know!"

"Owen Grady wants to see you. Why would Owen Grady want to see you?" Lowery asks and she just knows there's a smirk beneath that stupid mustache.

"Oh, you don't know?" Beth pipes and she honestly wants to murder one of her only friends at that moment. "He's her-"

She strong-arms a crumpled paper ball at the woman's head. She doesn't need anybody else in on her business.

"Nothing. I met him once." _I met him once and now, he's on my mind all the time_. "I'm sure it's nothing." She adds at the expressions on everyone's faces.

She _hopes_ it's not nothing.

God, she's an idiot.

 

 

 

 _Is this a date?_ He asks himself for the hundredth time since he had made the decision to come here. To come to Control and ask if Annie - his soulmate, he keeps having to remind himself needlessly - to go have lunch with him. _Would this count as a date?_

God, he hasn't had a date since... Well, since that awful date with Claire Dearing.

He's obviously learned, through the massacre with the I-Rex, that she's not the person he thought she was. Not the unfair assessment he had put her in during the run of their lives. And after everything, they had split under amicable terms and every now and then he'd wipe dust off his old laptop to friendly e-mails from her, to which he would respond accordingly.

Updates on things from the home front. How she had been put in charge of the San Diego headquarters of Masrani Corp and that she would never step foot on this island again, if she can help it. And that her nephews still talked about him.

He's happy for her. Happy she's moved on with her life.

He also wonders how much she'd laugh her ass off if he told her about his current predicament.

 _"The whole soulmate thing sounds like such a hassle."_ He had said off-hand during their jaunt in the jungle to search for the boys. _"Why_ _bother?"_

He had said and _meant_ those words. Believed them to a fault.

And now he's here, mooning over a woman he barely knows.

Well, he knows she's beautiful.  _Soo_ beautiful.

He also knows that, when he had taken her to the raptor paddock, she had held herself a whole hell of a lot better than the men and women who saw and worked closely with his girls on a day to day basis. Than anybody he had ever seen interact with them.

And damn, he's always had a thing for strong women.

And such a woman had been designated by fate to be his soulmate and he asks himself if the universe is honestly doing him a solid. If it had allowed him to live in order to meet her.

Because throughout his life, he could have easily bit the bucket. During his childhood, doing the most stupid shit in order to get any kind of thrill or laugh. His time in the Navy. Situations sometimes so dangerous that, after he'd been able to get through it, he had found himself tracing her words on his palm for comfort.

And the Indominus.

That could have been the turning point in his life. The end. The Indominus. His girls turning on him for a time. The T-Rex.

But, he lived through it.

He'd lived to bring his girls back together. To see his friends again. To be able to talk to his mother on the phone three times a week.

To meet his soulmate.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

He turns and there she is. Even more beautiful than the last time he saw her. Dressed in jeans, boots, and a white top with a colorful cardigan covering most of her arms and shoulders. Her work ID hanging loosely along three chains near her collarbone.

She looks great. More than great and he feels dirty and like he should take at least ten showers in order to compete.

"That's really very sweet but, my thoughts are worth a lot more than that." He retorts and when she smiles in return, he feels like he's just tethered the sun closer to the earth. It's that unreal.

"So, what brings you by these parts?"

 He stands up from his place on the stairwell as she leans against the open door of the control center. "I wanted to ask if you had any lunch plans."

She frowns (adorable, god) and immediately looks down her brown wrist watch. "Geez, it's that time, already?" She mutters and then squints down at him in the bright sunlight. "I normally eat at my station. I guess I lost track of time."

"Ask Lowery to cover for you. Guy loves that shit."

She edges, shuffling on her feet for a few minutes while he waits patiently at the bottom.

"OK! Okay. I just-" She flails for a brief moment and he bites back a smile because goddamn, it's cute (since when has he gone _insane_?). "-Five minutes. Just give me five minutes. Honestly. And then I'm all yours." She says in a rush before disappearing back into the door just as quickly as she had come out of it.

 _I wish._ He thinks immediately and then cringes visibly thereafter because that's not... those are not the thoughts to be having right now. Not for a while at least.

_A while? What does that even mean?_

_She said slow._ He adds seriously to the stream of consciousness about his soulmate's ass and the rhythm of her hips when she walks and where did his brain again?

 _She said slow._ _And I need to respect that. I may be a horn dog sometimes but, I'm a grown-ass man not a teenager. I have more self-control than that, dammit._

And then there's also the whole fact of him thinking about her smile and wondering when he can make it happen again.

He may fall down the rabbit hole faster than he'd previously assumed and he doesn't know why that's the least troubling thought he's had all day.

 

 

 

They end up at a sandwich place at the very end of main street and once they've eaten their lunch - the go Dutch and he'd been sorely tempted to just pay for everything himself but, then she gives him this look so, there's that - he leads her to an area off the beaten path that's more jungle than anything else and along the way they start up a game of twenty questions.

"Where are you from?"

"Chicago." She answers, kicking a small rock into the dirt under her feet. "I was born in Virginia, though. That's where my dad's from. After I was born..." She pauses then, as though thinking on her next words and then says. "...He needed a change so, he moved the two of us down there and that was that."

He knows he shouldn't ask. There's a story there. He could tell. A story she clearly doesn't wanna talk about.

But, he asks anyway. "And your mom?"

She shoots a look and it's a look that's one of forced lightness. Forced humor. "Isn't it my turn to ask you a question?"

He laughs. So, that's how it is. He's not gonna force it. "Ask away."

"Where are you from?" She asks, peeking at him with a half-smile, tension dissolving. "Where does a raptor trainer hail from, anyway?"

"Well..." He wordlessly helps her onto a downward tree log. Lifting her hand in his as leverage to assist her (electric contact and all) and then keeping a light tread next to her so, that she wouldn't fall. "...I'm not sure where raptor trainers hail from, miss but, this one is from Washington State."

"Washington State." She repeats, staring down at her feet, arms spread wide, as she tries not to teeter. "The place where Starbucks and rain comes from."

"Very funny." He utters in a chuckle as he keeps in stride with her. "Middle name? Or do you not have one?"

"Don't have one." She replies, swaying on her feet before he puts a light hand on her hip for one brief minute to steady her as she props her palm on his shoulder. Tiny fingers curling into his shirt in a way that makes him think a lot of inappropriate things. "What's yours?"

Ah. He should have known. Oh well.

He cringes even though a smile is threatening to peak out and he knows it. "Sheldon." He says in laughter.

She sputters a laugh in response and he ignores the tug in his gut at the melodic sound. "Owen Sheldon Grady, huh?"

"That's right, sweetheart. That's my name, don't wear it out." He helps her down off the log. Her legs swinging down to the ground to land clumsy and off-balance.

And ending up against him. Perfect, ample curves saddling nicely into his muscles in just the right way. One of his hands on her waist while hers ends up clutching his arm in surprise to gain equilibrium again.

It's a good amount of contact in a very brief moment in time and he's sorely disappointed when it ends too soon for his liking as she gently puts distance between them again.

Well, he'd be more than disappointed if not for the blush now painting her face and that now, even if there's space between the two of them again, it's lesser than before.

Nevermind, the little squeeze he knows she'd given his bicep before stepping away.

"Here." He says, pointing to the perfect spot where they can sit and because her back is turned, he gets to watch shamelessly as she heaves and twists her body up on the gap in a tree and adjusting to sit down and he follows to face his place next to her at more ground level on the log heap near it.

They slip back into twenty questions and he soon learns that she has two degrees to his three - something she seems delightfully surprised about: One in Animal Studies and another in Psychology ("it's amazing how easily you can get the upper hand when people know you can psychoanalyze them like that", she utters with a snap of her fingers) and he's honestly contemplating asking why the hell she'd ended up working in a control room when her skills could be utilized elsewhere.

But, he doesn't. It's one thing to ask get-to-your-soulmate questions but, it's another to lay out your opinion in that way.

They're not there yet, anyway.

Once, they've gotten past talking about his own in Zoology, Ethology, and Anthrozoology, he even tells her about his childhood a bit. About his often worried, protective mother. He tells her, at length, about Alfie.

After a while, though, her phone buzzes in her pocket and he watches her take it out with that small frown. "Oh, well, turns out my break was over five minutes ago so..." She starts to get off the tree and he again lends a happy hand to set her on her feet once more.

"Thanks for this. It was nice. A perfect afternoon." She tells him later as they edge out of the jungle onto Main Street to get back to the Control Center.

He side-eyes her. The way the sun shines distractedly in her hair. The glow of her smooth skin. The coloring of pink on the high points of her face. The beauty and intelligence of her eyes being the focal point of that face.

He's falling alright. He's falling down the rabbit hole, whether he likes it or not.

"Yeah, it was."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, here goes:
> 
> 1) I love Chicago! My mother's from there. I've spent some time there myself and it is my favorite city. So, Annie's from there. Period.
> 
> 2) Owen's middle name _is_ Sheldon. It's on his profile on the JW wikia page. Honest to god. I wouldn't lie about this. 
> 
> 3) Animal Studies is a recently recognized field in which animals are studied in a variety of cross-disciplinary ways. In case you wanted to know. And in my mind, Owen went into the Navy out of high school and some time during his tenure there (and through educational opportunities) got himself those three degrees. Thank you for reading!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have now seen this freakin' movie four fucking times! Help! I need help! It's alarming how much you end up loving it even more than the first three times. It's like... still soo satisfying as a cinematic experience each time. Unbelievable. And god, Chris Pratt... why??! Why- How???!! IT'S JUST SOO UNFAIR!

They're getting to know each other.

And Owen is... honestly okay with that. Just okay. _Maybe_ more than okay. Good. He's feeling pretty good about it. Which is something he'd never thought he would feel about this whole soulmate business and he had always expected it to be life-sucking and tedious and really fucking _inconvenient_.

Especially in his life the way that it is now.

He likes his life. He even _loves_ it sometimes (half the time). It's not the easiest, he'll say that. He lives on an island nowhere near what's familiar - familiar five years ago before he'd been plucked out of a world filled with navy ships and men who yelled commands - and that's filled with wild, (mostly) dangerous prehistoric animals that, up until over twenty years, had been extinct.

He has imprinted on many a generation of velociraptor. All the way down to his four, awesomesauce girls.

Point being he's the goddamn Alpha of a raptor pack.

Most people, dinosaur fan or no, would call that crazy.

(There'd been a few exceptions but...)

He has a literal bond with four of the smartest dinosaurs on the island - four smart _pains in his ass_ but, well - and that bond has gotten stronger still since the I-Rex. He doesn't what it is exactly but, it had been cemented further somehow. He had gone from being their all too human established Alpha that could easily become prey with a wrong move to... something _beyond_ that, probably.

It's not as though he could ask them but, in certain moments he feels like he can.

He ponders if this new level of bond has something to do with them somehow sensing his other, very _different_ bond with another.

With Annie. Who hadn't once, during that first meeting at the paddock, even glanced at him like she'd thought him insane.

He's wondering if he's actually lucked out with this.

And it's not even just about her physical presence in his life either. It's not just about seeing her around or purposefully going to go see her whenever he has a chance. Getting to put that smile on her face that he's often proud he has placed there. Talking to her. Letting that mix of sweetness and sarcasm wash over his ears.

No, it's not always that. It's the other stuff, too.

It's the mental aspect of this whole thing. That, at times, insistent pulse that follows him around in his daily life now.

Insistent in that it could make him half-crazy for a whole morning, only to later have her tell him that Lowery had driven her up a wall with one of his stories all the way through half a breakfast burrito.

And then that instance when he had nearly knocked out a newbie after he had almost gotten himself eaten by the girls due to stupidity and then she'd called to let him know of a raging headache and that he should really keep it together with his temper.

It's honestly not that bad. It just... catches him off-guard some of the time.

And he suspects she feels the same, too.

On other occasions, though, it's more contained. Something more easy and you know is there but, not paid a lot of attention to. Like a second heartbeat almost.

Yeah, he knows he's not The Doctor but, it's how it checks out to him, okay?

And also the spending time together isn't so bad. In fact, it's not bad at all.

For example, this very morning when he'd woken up to a text message from her.

_Me and my two sick idiots are hungry. Not in the mood to cook. Bring donuts. STAT! - Annie_

After a good minute of laughing to himself, he gets up and goes about his routine - you can take the navy _out_ of the boy - a lot earlier than usual and doesn't even realize until he's halfway through a shower that in the weeks since they've met, this is the first time she has invited him to her house.

On purpose and not after one of their shared afternoon jaunts, that is.

And also doesn't take into account that she's essentially  _demanded_ he get up and bring her and her roommates food and he's doing so without a hint of hesitation.

And when he does come to that in his mind, on the way to his bike in fact, he barely cares at all.

The island has exactly two donut shops and he doesn't know what causes him to bypass the cheap, generic one right at the start of Main Street and go instead to the newer artisanal place that he's never really entirely trusted because _donuts are donuts, dammit,_ but he goes there anyway.

Plus, he's certain he's seen her and said roommates going in and out of there on a day-to-day basis so...

And it turns out he's right on the money with that because in no time flat he arrives at her house on the side of the island that contains the residences of employees. A farmhouse with a swing in front, that you'd never is in the middle of Central America.

She answers the door wearing a big, black t-shirt displaying a morbid-looking, melting skull mug on it along with the saying _death before decaf._

She's also wearing dark-rimmed glasses that hang on her nose and a megawatt smile that he's more than happy he's once again the cause of.

But, he knows that the joyous light in her eye is for the box of baked goods in his arms.

He doesn't take it personally. Honest.

"Oh my god, you showed up!" She exclaims at the sight of him and then her eyes gleam at the donuts still emanating with warmth presented in front of her. "And you brought heaven with you." She takes the box from him, gaze brightening at the familiar label there. "Ah! My favorite kind of heaven, too."

"Am I missing something?"

"Nah." She hums, taking a peak inside at the selection of pastry. "Steph and Beth are nursing massive hangovers right now and they basically dared me to use you to get us donuts so, thank you."

He keeps the varying ways in which she can _use him_ to her satisfaction all to himself. "So, you didn't call because you wanted to see me?"

She snorts, face twisting adorably, before grinning with a wink. "Maybe..."

He sticks back as she turns and starts walking away before rounding back with an expected look. "You coming in?"

She doesn't wait for his answer as he steps inside her house for the first time and comes back as quick as she had disappeared with the box still in her arms and heading for the stairs.

"You got a nice place." He says honestly and his heart does a dumb flip when she smiles at him.

"Thanks." She starts going up the stairs, taking two at a time, doing a balancing act with the donut box and two tall mugs of strong-smelling coffee. "I'll be right back. I gotta give these damn things to my two sloshed friends and then cover for them at work. Can I get a ride?" She asks.

He nods because why not? It's not like having her on the back of his bike is a hardship or anything. "Sure can."

She smiles at him brightly and dammit if his chest doesn't constrict at the sight. Again. "'Preciate it. Be right back." She starts up the stairs once more with her load and then yelling over her shoulder. "Makes yourself at home!"

"Need any help?"

"Nope." She replies, already out of his eye line and yet still sounding unconvinced. "No. I got it." Almost immediately after she says that, he hears a light bang and some shuffling before she utters audibly. "Shit." And then a moment later. "That was nothing. I'm okay!"

He huffs out a laugh and turns from the stairs to follow her advice to make himself comfortable.

The house is very nice. He hadn't been being just polite when he'd told her so and he's just about to satisfy his sudden curiosity over the rest of the space that, not unlike the outside, no one would ever know lives in the middle of nowhere, Central America, on a preserve containing prehistoric creatures...

...But, when the first thing he sees next as he turns around is a mantle full of framed photographs, he could think of nothing else.

There are a variety of photos here. A few looking like they might have been taken months ago and then a sorted amount looking older.

The first one to catch his eye is a candid of a little girl with big, smart eyes and mousy brown hair, dressed in a faux-cowgirl outfit with a red bandana around her neck and a white oversized hat hanging on top of her head while riding what looks to be a pony.

At first glance he wouldn't have known but, now, here, analyzing the shot with more than a keen glance, he's able to look past the lighter, messy hair and wide, awkward grin into the camera.

She's grown to be very beautiful yet he could see his soulmate quite clearly in the still adorable, tiny tomboy in this photograph.

There's even more where that'd come from and he sees the vast selection of snapshots from her life lined across the mantle. A few as a little girl he could tell had been developing a wicked streak. Big, toothy smiles hiding secret schemes and plans to do things she probably shouldn't have. A up-close framed two shot of a small, sleeping newborn in the arms of a familiar-looking, smiling man young enough to be in his twenties.

It's just two them of them and the lack of a telling female presence calls to mind their game of twenty questions in the jungle not too long ago... and the ensuing look on her face when he had asked about her mother's place in her life.

He feels a small fission of something akin to pain flash through him as a thought occurs that it's maybe because this phantom of a woman doesn't have a place at all in her life.

And he doesn't even begin to consider why he wishes they'd been closer already so that he could know what had happened.

There's more, though. He gets to see her older. Growing into herself more. Smiles that had been wide and big and free now not as present and more... _guarded_ somehow. Progressing from school dances in colorful prom dresses to a cap and gown with an aged, roughened version of the man he recognizes had held her as an infant.

The last one, though, is what catches his eye the most.

It's of her. Smiling into the camera in a fashion he hasn't seen thus far in the line of her photographs in her later years and he could tell that this one is maybe a few years old at best. Grin causing her eyes to crinkle at the edges and cheeks sun-ruddy as she poses in military garb with a group of others.

Surprise caught in his throat, he gazes at the picture. Another side to her that he's come to discover.

"Got that bored?" He hears her ask and thinks, right then, that by now he could possibly pick out her voice. Know to recognize in a crowd of people if need be.

He turns his head to see her trotting down the stairs and _oh_ , she's wearing a dress.

His soulmate's in a dress. A modest, just-above-the-knee blue sundress with one of those cardigans she seems to like so much over it.

It honestly shouldn't make him feel the way that he does.

She looks pretty, for sure, but when doesn't she?

He manages to rip his eyes away from the toned, _longer-than-he-thought-possible_ legs to hold it together enough as she settles next to him.

She faces the same photos he's been staring at for who knows how long and as his gaze lingers on the last one of her, all he could think to ask. "You were in the army?"

"Not long." She shrugs, brushing a shoulder near his and he ignores the spark that goes up and down his arm when she does. "Just a year in a half. After high school. It was okay." He glances at her and sees a faintly fond expression on her face.

When she turns to face him, he blurts out. "I was in the Navy."  Her brow furrows in response and he elaborates. "I... After high school, too. I stayed... for a very long time." He adds, thinking of all his time on the ships. His classes. The missions. Everything. "And then right afterwards, I came here."

He'd told her about his degrees already. Just not where he'd been when he had earned them. Only that he had been in the park for the last five years of his life.

He absolutely has no way of asking what had happened to her during that year in a half to cause her to leave.

Nor if she had faced the danger anywhere near to what he had. If he had come close to losing her without ever knowing her the same way she had.

He doesn't even realize he's not stopped staring at her until she looks at him with a funny look of her own. "What's the matter? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing. It's nothing. Sorry." He shakes himself out of it and starts for the front door, feeling as thrown as she probably is right now by the unforeseen emotions curdling in his chest at the thought of her... Just the mere thought of her-

He forgets about this fucking bond sometimes.

"Ready to go?"

"Uh, yeah." She says after a minute before going to pick up a hefty purse he's noticed on a hook near the door. "I'm good to go."

They get outside and as they start heading towards his bike, she squints at him in concern. "Are you sure you're okay? I feel-"

"No. It's fine." He interrupts, unnerved he might just say something too fast, too soon. "I'm good. Let's go."

The ride to Control helps him. And her, he suspects. The unexpected morning breeze on his face clearing his mind and shoving those negative feelings of what ifs to the side. Bury them good and deep. The sensation of every inch of her, warm and soft, at his back helping plenty along the way. Those small, pale hands resting just beneath his hopefully steady heartbeat. Her breath prickling the back of his neck in awareness.

When they ever get a chance to have a real evening alone together - an _actual_ date - it's gonna be with a whole lotta this in between.

And he thinks about it a lot. What they'd do. How it would go. And not even sex would end up on the table (though it does peak in). Just the thought of being with her like that.

_God, what is happening to me?_

Once they get there, he helps her off the bike. Both of his hands dwarfing her own as she steps off better than she had the last time they had tried this. No foot catching or anything.

And when he doesn't let go of her the way he would normally, she turns to him with a slight frown. "What?

He looks down at their hands. The contrast of his tanned, roughened fingers cradling the lily whiteness of her own. Thinks of how his must feel on her soft skin. The one tiny callous on the top of her ring finger.

He turns her palm and sees the scar that signifies his presence in her life now.

He wonders if her skin is on pins-and-needles as much as his and figures it has to be.

When he looks at her again, her brow is raised and the only thing that he could want to say is. "Have dinner with me."

The word just sort of spring out of him on a lark and for a long moment as she gazes at him, he assumes he maybe hasn't said them... but, then, her eyes are wide and her lips are parted and _distracting_ and-

Yup. He's certainly said them.

"Dinner?"

She doesn't sound like she's seeing the idea as a negative so, he mows on. "Yeah. Dinner." He squeezes her fingers lightly and is absolutely delighted as she steps closer in return. So close, in fact, that she has to crane her neck in order to look up at him. "A date. Just the two of us."

"Please." He adds, as not to seem pushy.

Because those instances where they share lunch near and around both their job sites don't count.

It's nice and he enjoys that time together but, between the limited time and the nearby presence of park personnel, he feels like he hardly has her to himself.

And he'd like to have her to himself... if only for a few hours.

And if it turns out to just be a little something he ends up cooking for them in his bungalow and they end up eating under the moon whilst trying to keep ahead of fleas and bugs, he still gets to be with her in some way.

The woman in question tilts her head a bit. Eyes bright with sweet little emotions that causes his heart to go tight. "Anything you have in mind?"

 

 

 

He starts the day with his girls walking on air. His good mood rubbing off on Blue as she greets him with an infectious enthusiasm as her Alpha struts in with almost a bounce in his step. Her siblings hopping and hooting in response to his arrival.

"Good spirits today?" Barry asks in amusement as he trots to his friend to receive a clipboard of delivery orders which, no matter what, he almost always grumbles about.

"Something like that." He said, humming as he signs his uneven signature on the dotted line before handing it back to the Frenchman and moving off the side where a bucket of fresh feed hangs.

When he starts up the catwalk, he's not surprised to find his close friend following him up, obviously curious about his sudden sunny disposition. Which, he actually does try to keep it easy-going most of the time anyway but, well, now he has an even bigger reason to keep with the good vibes this morning.

The reason being under five-foot-three, curvy, and smelling like vanilla when temptingly close.

Fuck. He's on a high today.

"Is it your soulmate?" He hears his close colleague next to him with the most knowing, shit-eating tone Owen has ever heard in all their time working together. Which is really saying something 'cause as big a smartass as he is and how much more polite his fellow wrangler happens to be, Barry can certainly keep up.

"Yeah, maybe." He hedges, not even his friend's nearly gleeful knowledge of the object of his exuberance enough to cut off his spirits. Feeling himself smirk, regardless.

Aside from the occasion when the two of them had officially introduced themselves at Sunrio and that along with Lou and Susan, the other man had caught a glance of her. She had also been by on two other occasions near the paddock before their lunch jaunts and Barry had taken the opportunity to introduce himself because apparently there's only so much stimulation training velociraptors can provide before you have to move onto the next thing for excitement.

It had also helped nothing that Annie had taken an immediate liking to him and that she happened to be speak conversational French.

He hadn't been at all threatened but, dammit.

The day continues like that. Owen trying his best to do his work and Barry teasing the hell out of him. Day transitioning into night as smoothly as it could and he declares it a great stretch. No incidents with idiot interns (the newbie trembles only minutely when his pack barks at him so, _success_ ). No attitude from the girls - who have been on their best behavior due to his vibe rubbing off on them during the entirety of daylight. No difficulties at feeding time.

He shoulda known it'd been too good to be true.

He's supposed to meet Annie for dinner at eight-thirty so, he happily starts to lock up with Barry and he whistles as he twirls his keys in his fingers walking down the catwalk and waves to the guards.

Then it happens.

An ear-piercing screech sounds out in the night and he spins around just before he could reach his bike.

_Oh, no._

The one night he'd really wanted to have for himself-

Well, now he's gonna have to make a phone call that hopefully doesn't put the brakes on everything ever.

 

 

 

 _"I am so sorry."_ Owen says to her the moment she answers her phone a few hours after they saw each other last. Sounding both aggravated and apologetic at the same time.

"About?" She susses as she continues to search for something to wear in her little closet. She had showered with her favorite vanilla-musk hair-and-body cleanser and had luckily already let Beth give her a mani-pedi two days before so, the only thing she has left to do is to get dressed and-

_"We can't have dinner tonight."_

She pauses, fingers curling onto the fabric of her prettiest dress - muted red with tiny flowers on the front and a sweetheart neckline up top - though his words cause her to turn away from eyeing it as a possibility to wear to a hopefully romantic dinner with her soulmate.

So much for that.

"What?"

There's a brief silence and then the breath of whatever response he'd been about to give her gets drowned out by a louder than loud shriek that immediately makes the hairs on her arm stand on end and then she hears him yell away from the phone in a tone she hadn't been introduced to yet. _"Put those fucking rifles down now! They'll never calm down if you don't!"_

_"What the hell is going on over there?"_

_"Um..."_ He blows an impatient sigh over the line and she thinks she can picture the expression on his face: The pinched line between his eyes. Fingers trying to message it away. The thin press of his lips. _"...Honestly, I'm not sure. One of the idiots working this rotation thought he could get close to the cage and Blue bit the shit out of his hand and now..."_ Another screeching shriek that she knows will never leave her memories and then he's back away from it, more exasperated than before. _"...Now, all four of them won't calm down."_

She frowns, concern settling over disappointment for the moment. "Well, what did he do?"

Another beat. Then. _"What?"_

"Well, he must have done something to deserve her biting him. Aren't there rules-"

 _"There is."_ He breathes uneasily. _"He ignored it out of dumb curiosity."_

"That's probably it then. She maybe wanted to know what stupid tastes like." She asserts, only half-joking because he has told her that despite regulations, there's just some morons who worked the paddock who hardly paid attention.

Shit, if she were any of the girls, she'd have taken a bite out of their asses sooner.

He laughs. A deep, lovely sounds that makes her stand straight and smile proudly even though he can't see her. _"Listen. I don't how long_ _this'll take and I really don't want to but-"_

"It's fine." She says firmly, not wanting to herself riled up over this. They can have dinner some other time. "You have a job to do. Rain check on the date?" She asks hopefully, just to make sure.

When he speak, it's with surprise and something she doesn't think to put a label on. _"Yeah. Yeah, definitely rain check."_ He exhales and then adds. _"I gotta go."_

"Okay. I'll see you soon?"

_"Yeah."_

"Keep me updated on Blue?" She asks before they can hang up.

He's so quiet on the other end of the line that she thinks briefly that he's hung up on her.

"Owen-"

 _"I will."_ He utters, more of that un-nameable emotion in his steady voice. _"Bye."_

"Goodbye." She hangs up and looks at the sweats on her bed. Images of Italian food and six-foot-two men with startling green eyes flashing through her mind on a loop.

That's another one-pot dinner for another night this week then.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen up. My laptop has been misbehaving a lot more frequently lately so, I don't know when I'll update next. It's giving me a window right now but, you know how technology is. It's just been acting erratic. Just a heads-up. 
> 
> Also, thanks for reading! :)


	6. Chapter 6

They don't get a chance for dinner again for at least another week. Owen is, for some reason, the busiest he's ever been down at the paddock and it's only through texts and the infrequent phonecall that he's able to communicate with Annie and she has her own stuff going in the control room. And for the entire night after the dumbass had almost gotten his hand made into raptor chew and he had had to stay behind to control and monitor the situation for a few hours - he's still more than a little stingy that the curious prick what's-his-name? had been involved in depriving him of an evening alone with his soulmate but, whatever - he had been a bit worried about her being mad at him over cancelling their plans even though she'd said otherwise.

Even four weeks in, he's still reeling from this whole thing.

Despite myths that stir up stories, he only gets one soulmate. He still doesn't know what to do.

Not only that but, she's also not what he used to. He knows his type. Smart, sexy, and strong. Simple as that. During his tenure in the Navy, he hadn't had a different woman in every port they'd stopped at but, he'd had his own fun. Before then, he had maintained at least the occasional relationship and there's a marked difference between women he had (to put it bluntly) fucked for fun and the few that he'd been more serious about.

In spite of what most people thought, friend or not, he's not incapable of relationships... exactly. He's just always been more of the mind that if two people are attracted to each other, why bother with the gushy nonsense, and just go for it?

To say it hadn't boded well for his past involvements would be an understatement. Some had been just as cynical as him while others had wanted flowers and candlenight.

Not that there's anything wrong. It's just never jibed well with him. And for a long time, he had been at the conclusion that he's just not capable of loving someone like that. He's certainly capable of being somewhere in the vicinity yet not had not come close.

And after the Navy... he had seen too much. Had bore witness to things no one should ever... he'd come back different. Changed. Even he could see that. No man decides immediately after seeing combat for that long, to live on an island so far outside from what he's used to not run away a little bit from something.

And no chance of ever meeting someone again. Just train and raise his girls and go on with his life as it healed from everything.

Then the Indominus and all that had followed it.

And now, her, Annie. His soulmate. Here, on this island. Even though they hadn't gone through a moment that dictated it, he thinks he could... read into her a little bit. Sense that steel core and will so akin to his own. Hers just wrapped in a much more attractive package.

And now that. Romance and stuff. He actually really doesn't mind. Some things are worth it when you take your time. She hadn't explicitly asked him to but, he thinks he can try this whole romancing thing. Jesus.

And he really doesn't want to but...

"How do you woo somebody?"

Susan, the Mosasaurus trainer, turns towards him with a frown on her face as she scoops fresh into a large bucket. "What? No hello?"

During the past five years of his life, he has met a lot of people and a few of them have become his friends. And that includes - nearly exclusively - some of the other trainers on the island because they tend to be the kind of people he sees more often than not. And yet... he still doesn't get why he had chosen Susan of all people to come to with this. Even though, she might understand exactly what he's going through.

Maybe. Kind of.

He has no specific idea what everybody else's deal with soulmates is - if any of them have met their own, why would they tell him of all people when even he knows how impossible he could be when it comes to the very subject - but, Susan has the most stable version he would want some advice from. She'd met her own soulmate early on and then soon after had gotten married followed by a couple of kids and even now with the long-distance, they both still make it work somehow.

And he could ask just how but, all he needs to remember is the expression on her face and the tone of her voice whenever she talks about it. They love each other. In _that_ way.

So, he's come to her. Dammit.

"You know..." He gestures with a vague hand, feeling especially like an idiot. "...Wooing. Like-"

"Courting?" She interrupts with a raised brow and why had come here again? "You mean you wanna court somebody? And you're asking me?" She adds incredulously, though he won't discount the gleam in her eye.

"Yup."

The eyebrow hikes higher on her forehead. "So, it's come to this, huh?"

"Susie..." He growls impatiently. Already feeling a headache coming on and why is he feeling soo goddamn embarrassed anyway? People ask for advice all the time and yet he's here, acting like a boy going to his mother for how to approach girls.

"Owen, the hunky raptor trainor asking little ol' me for advice. Who da thunk it?" His so-called friend utters with a giant grin on her face that he could only call smug and concludes that this must be what others feel when faced with a good chunk of his own personality.

Now's really not the time for this kind of karma.

"Goddammit. Never mind." He utters, exasperated and turns on a heavy foot to leave. To go try and figure this out all by himself. As per usual.

"Oh god, sorry!" He hears her blurt and stops, turning with a huff to see the brunette looking at turns sheepish and still too amused for her own good. "Sorry. You just looked... and I thought it was a little funny... Just come back. I'm sorry. Really. I'll listen. I promise."

And with that - and against his better judgment no one seems to think he possesses - he gives up with a long sigh and starts spilling about his situation. About Annie and how amazing she is and the feelings that he's been having trouble keeping to himself. He sheds the protective skin he has had since that day at the kitchen table when his mother had sat him down and explained to him about soulmates. Since he had immediately convinced that he would never want one if he'd ever meet her and if then, it just wouldn't work because even at nine-years-old he had already learned that life doesn't work in your favor even if you want it to. And decades after the fact, since receiving that sobbing phonecall from his mother about his dad almost a month into his brand new job at a dinosaur park.

After he's told her about the dinner that fell through, she arches a brow. "You already asked her on a date?"

"Yeah." He utters, ignoring the urge to fidget. "I did."

"And you ended up with a last minute thing?"

She asks it so skeptically that he, once again, reconsiders this entire conversation. "The girls lost their shit over some curious idiot." He explains with a scowl. "I had to stay back at the paddock to calm them down and I had no clue how long it'd take. So, I called and got a raincheck."

"And have you cashed in that raincheck?"

"No."

"Well the, here's my advice." She says, preparing a giant bucket of feed with quick, precise movements that spoke of her many years of experience at the park as a trainer. "Cash in that raincheck as soon as you can and enjoy your time with your soulmate." She gives a long, loaded look full of wisdom and sardonic smarts. "You only get one soulmate in this lifetime and really one chance to make it right so, all you can do hold onto what you have and _try_ not to screw it up."

 

 

 

"Hope you like beer."

"If it's the good kind then I like it fine."

He scoffs, while taking out the two beers from the cooler outside his bungalow.

Now soon after his short talk with Susan, he had gone and taken her advice about calling Annie for dinner again and not wanting to push his luck this time, had invited her over to his place instead of a restaurant. Wanting the alone time he'd been in need of for a good while since they'd met. Wanting her to see where he lives and what he's all about. To watch the expression on her lovely face as she takes in the nature in which he hails from on this island.

And so far, it's been good. Unlike most women he'd brought here - more so to keep his bed warm for a night than anything - she hadn't wrinkled her nose at the size of his home. Nor where it's located. For some reason, most people to have a looked at his humble abode had a strange allergy to him living near water.

Not her. She'd taken one look at the surroundings and had said in the most un-ironic tone. "God, it must be a dream to live here."

And god, he's never been more smitten with her than right at that moment.

(Which is may or not be a little bit false because if he could count the number of moments in which he had felt such a way with her, he'd definitely run out of fingers.)

It's not the first time he's honestly put some thought into how in trouble he is when it comes to her. The soulmate he had always not wanted. Never wanting to have such an inconvenience of fate to put a dent in his life... Except she hasn't put a dent in his life at all. She's only added to it. And probably without knowing it.

"Here you go." He says, handing her a beer as he joins her on the deck over-looking the water she'd been standing at for the past ten minutes as he'd prepared their dinner at the small grill outside - salmon with lemon and dill, to keep it simple - keeping her back to him the whole time.

She takes the beer from him with a grateful, sweet smile that (the way the setting sun shines in her hair and makes her eyes bright and her skin radiant) makes him wanna lean down and take her lips with his... and not for the first time since they'd met, either.

He's able to keep it together most of the time because he's a grown man and not a stupid, horny teenaged boy who's constantly thinking with his dick (not to say that he hasn't _not_ with Grady Junior _buutt_...) but, that still doesn't mean he's not without less than... easy days concerning her and him. Them. Together.

Not to say that there isn't something kind of teenage-like about this and he really hasn't gone this slow with someone since high school but, he won't push. They're soulmates. And she's not yet given any indication that she's willing for him to make a move already.

And yeah, okay, it's not as though she's put everything up to him and she could've easily have made a gesture herself by now...

...And yet...

"I think dinner's gonna be ready in a bit." He utters, mind still on how gorgeous she is and wanting to kiss her now yet never ever wanting her uncomfortable, though hedging his bets and stepping closer to her. Placing a hand on the small of her back as casually as he can.

To his delight, she simply hums and leans into him a bit - slightly and in a way he assumes that she doesn't entirely realize on a conscious level - swaying close so, that he could inhale the scent of her and make his mouth water. Soft. Heady. Edible. _Sexy_. Like musky, toasted vanilla. At once comforting yet definitively alluring.

He wants to sink his teeth into her.

He imagines that she tastes as good as he thinks she does.

"Good 'cause I've been smelling it for almost twenty minutes and it's really..." She turns to look at him and he knows when it hits her how close they've become because he also can't miss her how her eyes darken and her breath hitches with her next word. "...d-delicious." She adds, stuttering for the first time ever since he had met her and all he could think is now, right now and leans down and in, cataloguing every expression that crosses that face, every hitch of sweet breath, any sign at all that she doesn't want this...

...But, sees none. Nerves. Anticipation. Yes. All that and more. Savors the feel of her when she turns fully towards him and his palm finds the curve of her hip. Fingers pressing. Pulling. Getting her nice and close. Yearning. Wanting. Longing-

Then - and _then_ , of course, 'cause why can't he catch a fucking window here? - his phone rings. Just as he's this close to having what's he wanted for what feels like forever... it rings.

He'd forgotten that he'd left Barry in charge of the girls and that he's to call him with updates every half hour or so... and yeah, he'd also forgotten that much time had already passed, hence the ringing of his phone at the most inopportune moment.

He'd pretty much forgotten everything but, her.

He wonders if that's what people mean when they say you lose your mind after finding your soulmate.

"That'd be Barry." He mutters near her lips after she opens her eyes just after closing them - goddamn phone! - in a manner he hopes is to anticipate and wait for his kiss. Big. Beautiful. Very expressive. Every emotion he's sure is reflected on his own face painting hers. Pale, small hands having found their way to his chest as his had migrated towards the slope of her waist. "The girls-"

"-Are important." She finishes with the kind of smile that makes him think about a multitude of ways in which to strangle the man who's the closest thing to a best friend on this island. _I love_ _you, Barry but, goddamn_. "I understand." She adds with an expression that causes him to believe her and jesus, does it make him more smitten than before, before she slides those lovely, tempting hands over his shoulders and down his arms, squeezing lightly. "You go. I'll be here."

And doesn't _that_ sound like the greatest promise ever?

Eventually and after that phone call (the girls are fine, of course they are, why wouldn't Barry interrupt an important moment in his life with an _actual_ emergency?), they have dinner under the lit up outdoor bulbs in front of his bungalow. Laughing. Talking. That effortless ease that just flows through every interaction they've had thus far in knowing one another making the evening nice and enjoyable.

And the fact that she seems to like his cooking - he honestly thinks he should've made something better but, fish is cheap and easy to grab last minute - just brings the whole thing to next level. And once they've finished and he's cleaned up a bit, the two end up back on the deck, sitting on the two lounging chairs and gazing up at the stars.

Yeah, if this hadn't been in his own life, he wouldn't have believed it either.

"This is..." She utters with a soft voice, catching his attention (more of it mostly 'cause he's not stopped looking at her all through dinner and she's _soo_ beautiful and he really can't stop thinking about that aborted kiss) as she sighs slightly, gazing up at the deep blue of the night sky. "...very beautiful."

"Yeah." He says just as softly and without a second thought because he knows realistically that she's talking about the damn stars but, here she is, being all gorgeous and sweet and she's his soulmate and he can't believe it sometimes and god, he'd really wanted to kiss her earlier.

And the ensuing blush when she catches him eyeing her instead of the admittedly nice collection of stars above them is truly charming and wins him all over again. And makes him fall more and more for her. And also makes him wanna try and kiss her again.

But, he won't. 'Cause he will not disrespect and make her uncomfortable. Or make her unwilling to take this any further when the time comes. Or, y'know, cause her to think him an oversexed pig. Honest. He cares about her - a feeling mixed with something a great deal deeper that he's still not ready to put into words - and being with her like this is fine. Incredible. For now.

God, he's in it. He's in it deep.

 

 

 

Annie loved her bar nights with the girls. They'd all three been clocking in more and more hours at the control room getting ready for the up and coming visitor's weekend in a couple of weeks and though, it's kind of a long ways away from happening, the bosses had wanted the park's employees to beef up security just in case something should happen... again. Which most, if not all the newer people (herself, included) knew about. Probably. Maybe.

She doubts it, though. She has a feeling that half knows nothing about the incident and the other half lives in blissful ignorance.

She had found out about it because she'd done her research and oh yeah, she'd managed to wrangle it out of Lowrey.

And quite honestly, she has no idea how to bring it up to Owen.

Making that the thousandth time she's thought about her soulmate today. She thinks she's doing pretty okay.

Anyway, back to drinking. She thinks, turning back to her Manhattan and biting the cherry into her mouth.

The next few hours go by in a blur in the form of margaritas, tequila, and assorted alcohol. Not to mention a bit of dancing that she will later be grateful that her friends had been soo much drunker than her that they'd somehow forgotten how to properly work their cellphones and blackmail her with photos and/or video evidence.

And with them off her back, she has all the time to think about Owen.

Her gorgeous, funny, and frustratingly sexy soulmate.

She kinda hates him a little bit when she thinks about the affect he has on her when they're together. And even when they're not. Even just thinking about him makes her - the point is there's never _not_ a time that he doesn't do something to her at least one way or another.

Goddammit.

Her eyes fall on her phone, flashing brightly with her contact listing. Her gaze zeroing in on Owen G. even as she fiddles with her thumbs, trying very much not to focus on that name in particular. She's out with her friends on what has become one of her more rare nights off and yet here she is, Beth and Steph lighting up the dance floor with their perspective partners - Johnny and Rosie, they think she hasn't noticed but, come on - while she's sitting at a lone bar stool looking like some weirdo with her nose in her phone.

What a time at the beach she is, huh?

She also finds out soon therafter that she little reason to feel guilty because both her roommates fly at her with pouted expressions and pleas to go leave with the other two and that if she would like to come along or-

"I'll just stick around here." She hears herself say, feeling loose and tipsy and suddenly energized as a very, very bright idea hits her. "You go have fun. I'll see you at home."

 Then after an alarming amount of innuendo and a few choice phrases said in way too loud voices in the crowded bar, she finds herself alone and - pouring in more and more delicious fruity alcohol into her face hole because yay! fun! - staring at Owen's contact information and thinking about his smile. The sound of his voice. The expression in his eyes when he looks at her. The spicy musk of him. The size of his biceps. The cut of his gib-

"Cut of his gib?" She utters, her vision spinning unreasonably as she's siting on a bar stool. "How much have I been drinking?"

Whatever. It's- Whatever. She's fine. She'll just sit here and call her soulmate-

_No. No. No. No. No. Don't do that. He's probably busy-_

He answers after one ring.

"Hello?" He utters distractedly and she doesn't know if it's the drinks in her system or this whole soulmate deal but, she honestly can't handle how happy she becomes at his simple greeting. His deep, steady voice. That stupid, motherloving flutter that tingles in her chest at the sound of it.

"Owen!" She would later figure that she'd been too tipsy to care or cringe at the loudness of her own voice but, right there in that moment, it's neither here nor there, so. "Oh my god! Hi!" After getting a few looks though, she lowers her voice. "How are - *hiccups* - how are you, handsome?"

A beat. A long one... then. "Annie?"

"Yup." She drawls with an emphasis on the 'p'. "That is my name... and don't wear it out or you'll run it out." She says with a laugh before realizing half-way through that it's not very good. Yeah, definitely not her best.

"Have you been drinking?" He asks after a moment in a voice dripping with something she could only call delight and a fission of joy shoots up her spine.

A giggle works it's way freely out from her throat. "Yes. I was out with Beth and Steph and they made have margaritas and shots of tequila and then I..." She starts rummaging for details in her head. The task itself more of a chore for some reason. "...Oh, I had a Manhattan. Two Manhattans." She adds after the numbers come together. "Three... I think."

A beautiful, masculine laugh that causes heat to simmer and stew in her blood travels across the phone line to her ears. "What bar are you at?"

"D...?" She tries, sounding it out and unable to remember for some reason. "Denny's...? Dinny's...? Um..." She trails off, humming, before it comes back to her somewhat fuzzily. "Oh! Oh! Dandy's!"

He chuckles this time... and it does nothing to make her want him less. "You mean Dan's?"

"Yes!" She exclaims, snapping her fingers. "Yeah! That's it. That's the place. I'm here... I mean, I'm there."

Another truly wonderful laugh and he says. "Okay. I'm on my way. Hang tight, I'll be there in a few. 'Kay?'

"Can't wait." She utters honestly before they hang up together.

A little bit of time passes and steadily, she starts to grow more and more bored. Leaning on the bar and humming nonsensically under her breath because god, this is not that big of an island, how long could it take to get here? How much longer-

She feels a sudden presence at her back and spins around. Hoping. Thinking-

But, it's not Owen.

It's... completely somebody else. Somebody who's decidedly not her soulmate.

He's good-looking, though, she'll admit that. With sharp features and dark eyes, she can possibly see him as something for someone to look at... if that someone weren't her, that is.

That and, she thinks, he could be better-looking if he were taller with broader shoulders and those eyes were an honest shade of green instead of brown but, whatever. She's already decided to not extend any big conversation to this Stranger-Who-Hasn't-Been-Named-Yet.

And also, judging by the smile on his stupid face, that's not the response he would want anyway.

Never been a people pleaser, her, though. Soo...

"Can I help you?"

To her immense pleasure, that smile dims. "Pardon me?"

"Is there something I can help you with?" She asks slowly as though speaking to a dumb child. Something, she'll be reminded of later when she's sober again, she'd never do if not for the help of Manhattan.

That grin turns quickly into a frown. "I just came over to say hi-"

"I know what you were coming to say." She interrupts with a dismissive wave, already turning back around and deeming the conversation done. "And you can forget it. Move on, buckoo. Bye."

Of course, as is mostly the case with these types of situations, (she would later recall with a cringe) tall, dark, and smiley doesn't take a hint and she hears a sound not unlike as huff close to the back of her neck and then says. "Excuse me?"

She looks over her shoulder at the incredulous look on... uh... she doesn't really- "Yes, Mr. No-Name?"

"What-?"

"Get it? Because I don't know your name??"

He scoffs. "Hey, listen-"

Whatever the stranger wants to say to her takes a backseat to the familiar sensations of the tingling on her palm. The swoop in her stomach and that ever-present pulse on the area nearest to her heart. That steady wave of affection sweeping over her entire body.

She senses him before she even sees him.

Or _feels_ him, rather. One minute nothing being out of the ordinary... then the next, a hard wall of muscle pressing up against her back while a long, strong arm curls near her waist. A welcoming, husky voice at her ear. "Sorry I'm late, baby. Had a few things to take care of." Followed by a punctuating kiss on her hairline that causes wracks of a different kind of shivers up and down her spine and more heat to pool in her belly and then _lower_.

She leans back against the living, breathing wall and sighs. "It's okay." She utters sincerely as a large, warm hand runs up and down her back. "I'm glad you're here."

Oh, god, he smells good. Why hadn't she'd gotten this closer to him before?

And he does smell very good. Like fresh-cut grass and a lovely, dark spicy musk that she greedily inhales as calmly as she could. And he most certainly feels even better. All hard muscle. All strength and power that has her easily imagining him baring her down on a mattress. Settling between her legs-

Another kiss right in her hair and this, being as close to him as possible, she can very much sense when he spots their audience. A strange acuity of his movements as he shifts a bit while maintaining his hold on her. "And you would be?" He asks in a rumble that echoes low in her own body.

In fact, she's distracted by the feeling that it takes a minute for her to register his words.

"Oh!" She exclaims, turning her head - and ouch, dizzy - to face him, too. "This is..." She can't, for the life of her, recall his name. "...Uh... What is...?"

"I'm-"

"Doesn't matter." She interrupts and with that, she gestures between the two. "Stranger, this is my soulmate. Soulmate, this is stranger." She adds before settling back against Owen who's looking down at her with a look that's a mix of amusement and befuddlement, which she ignores in favor of enjoying all six-foot-two-inches of muscly soulmate.

"Oh." She hears vaguely in front of her. "Oh, I didn't know she-"

"She is." The ensuing sound of his voice deep in his chest makes her snuggle in closer because why not?

"I'll just-"

"You should."

Who-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named takes off.

"See ya, stranger!"

"My name is Ray!" He yells bravely, if the tightening grip Owen takes is anything to go by.

"Oh, god, who cares?!"

"Want a ride back to your house?" Owen asks after managing to drag her out of the bar while keeping a close step towards her for some reason or another, even though she can hardly stand to mind the proximity.

Literally, she can actually hardly stand. Her knees are starting to feel more and more useless and her damn legs can be compared to jelly at this point.

Which is probably why he's kept nothing more than one inch between them since they've stepped out.

Silly her, she thought it'd been her charm.

"It _is_ your charm." The man at her side says casually and she frowns as she realizes she'd said all of that out loud. _Dammit_. "Come on." He adds, grabbing her attention back and she watches him walk towards-

"Uh-uh." She utters, shaking her head. "No."

He turns to face her as he reaches his motorcycle, the edges of his lips curing upward at her distance and hesitation. "You've ridden it before."

"Not like this. I've had a few drinks." She juts out her chin, standing straight. "I may just throw up on you."

He stares at her for a long time moment. Posture getting straighter and upright. Eyes dark and penetrating and - _oh_.

"Annie." Said with some warning. "Please come here."

She shakes her head.

"Annie-"

"No!"

And she may or may _not_ have stomped her foot. Maybe. Probably.

He scoffs and steps back up. Intending on closing the gap between them again. "Annie." He utters. Lowly. Seductively. "You trust me, right?" He adds questioningly, placing those beautiful, calloused hands she's fantasized _way_ too often about on her waist once he's in front of her. Encasing her in rugged, dizzying warmth and maleness.

She stares at him, head tilting because of his nearness and height. "Yes." She whispers breathlessly. Truthfully. "That has nothing to do with it. It's not smart-"

"I wouldn't let anything happen to you." He interjects and suddenly, she knows they're no longer talking about the bike. "You have to know that." He adds, gazing down at her with _that_ look. Like she's something he wants to taste. To devour and sink into.

She continues to look at him like this. Illuminated by moonlight and the small bit of lamps outside the bar. Tall, strong, and - according to fate - all _hers_. Rough, hardened masculinity softened into pliability because of her. _For_ her.

The light bite of the cool night air streaming through her system. Making her more alert and less muddled.

"Kiss me."

They stand at a crossroads. Her, with a racing heart and mind stripped by alcohol, with blood rushing in her ears. He, confronting her with a combination of surprise, affection, and a touch of lust that she _burns_ to expand and nurture. To indulge in.

She'd thought she had been light-headed because of the drinks inside.

But, this is asking too much.

"What?" He asks. Rough. Husky. Booming down towards her. Calling to the escalating throb between her legs.

She shrugs. _Don't run_. She demands of herself and then repeats. "Kiss me." She steps closer. Breasts brushing against broad chest. Zing of awareness down her spine. "If you want me..." His eyebrow cocks and she stamps the urge to climb him. "...To get on that bike. Then kiss me." She adds boldly. "Right now."

It's a dare. Clearly a challenge. He peers down at her with dark, liquid eyes. "Okay." He nods.

She scarcely has a moment to breathe before a large hand is cupping her jaw. Big, broad fingers stroking her face. His face leaning lower and lower. Eyeing the way she's no doubt biting her bottom lip. Hot, even breaths combining with her own as she part to welcome despite the pounding in her chest.

He shifts even closer. She trembles. Right there, right there. Just a little closer-

Only, he completely bypasses her mouth and the next thing she knows, her equilibrium is knocked off course and her center of gravity is for naught and she hears herself squeal as he promptly lifts her over his shoulder and starts his way back to the bike.

Laughing all the while at her shock at his audacity.

 _Jackass_.

"Owen!" She exclaims, flailing hands touching the build of his back. "No! Put me down!"

"Not yet." He warns a minute right before he's pulling her down (which, somehow, involves more hands-y action than when he'd hoisted her up) and then grabbing her by the hips - _oh_ \- to plant her like a kid onto the motorbike.

"There you go." Said with some triumph.

And she most definitely doesn't grumble. "I hate you."

"No, you don't." He says jovially and with some smugness before settling in front of her on the bike as she reluctantly gets into place to straddle behind him. The engine on the murder monster she hadn't even wanted to get on in the first place jamming to life.

And she hadn't gotten her kiss.

Damn.

"I really do hate you." She mutters loud enough when she puts her arms around his stupid strong waist.

"Sure you do."

And with a kick of his legs and a rumble, they go off into the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys! Guys!! I'm really, really sorry I was soo late with this update. I can't make any promises with the others (among the many things I always have to do, I'm now writing a short film, imagine that!) so, like with this, exercise some patience. Pretty please. ;) Also, hopefully, you've figured out by now that this story has not much plot. It's a character tale about soulmates finding each other. That's all it is.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed and kind of apologize for the ending a bit. I was happy with most of it and then got stuck at the end. Regardless, I'm hoping and praying you enjoyed it... Until next time! :))
> 
> PS I'm turning 26 on the twenty-ninth of this month. I wanted to do this before then. I appreciate all of you. Bye!!


	7. Chapter 7

To say that Owen Grady knows nothing of the protocol of when your soulmate gets silly tipsy-drunk and then tries to get you to kiss her as a bribe in order to ride on the back of the bike you _know_ she hates, is a total understatement.

See, he's had more of his fair share of awkward situations concerning the opposite sex.

May not seem like it but, he has. Honest.

And he just knows that Annie is embarrassed of her behavior from that night - what with her not having contacted him and all - even though he thinks with all frankness, that she really shouldn't be. With his own antics back in the day, in between his time spent on a navy ship, he has no right to judge.

That and god, she's almost frighteningly adorable and incredibly hot when she has had some to drink.

He only half-agonizes over his latent common sense that he hadn't kissed her when she'd freely given him the chance.

Only (and despite what most people think), he's not a total asshole and again, she had had a few too much to drink and there's no way in hell he would have violated her trust even in the most minute of ways by letting her do something she'd regret.

Though, he'd like to consider that allowing him, her soulmate, to kiss her wouldn't be that big of a regret.

Alas, he still knows he'd made the right call.

Basically, it all comes down to this: He doesn't wanna hurt her. At all. He would never, ever hurt her.  He'd much rather break his own arm than to harm her in any way, shape, or form. A guarantee no person could ever truly make and yet he has many times over since that night. What they have, it's...

Love. His inner thoughts whisper to him before he viciously squashes them down.

God, he's just no good at this, is he?

To get her to talk him, though...

"Owen." He hears next to him and turns slightly to see Barry standing there in the midday sun.

"Yeah, man?"

The other man simply cocks a brow and hums while pointedly nodding his chin forward in front of them.

"Wha-?" He asks, a little confused, to follow the gesture.

And speak of the devil...

If the devil wore white. And fitted jeans. With the aforementioned white blouse clinging to her frame like-

Anyway, he'd been too damn busy thinking too much about his own soulmate that he had failed to notice the signs that she'd come around and is now near to the point that the bond should have been blasting away at his senses as per usual. That tingling in his limbs. The warmth near his heart demanding his attention.

"Well, well..." He utters, strutting down the stairs of the walkway. Smirking as her head goes up and she blushes. "...Look who's a sight for sore eyes?"

She flushes deeper and he's torn between the dual urges to either call her adorable or kiss her, good and deep, like he's been wanting to since the minute she said his name for the first time.

Like he keeps telling himself he should've done when she'd told him to.

The expression she gives him is full-on 'hi, sorry' and his chest tightens further in affection for her.

"Yeah. About that-"

"It's alright." He interjects gently, having only wanted to tease her a bit and not genuinely make her feel awful and it's not like he doesn't kinda get her need to save a little face after (soulmate or not) and even if he personally think she should ever again with him, he still has no right to begrudge her need for space. "I get it." He smiles at her for real this time because it's a secret.. but he can be sweet, too. "You're not the only one who's done funny shit while drunk."

"Well, that's very kind of you." She comments wryly and his smile grows almost painfully 'cause there's a bit of that fire that he soo adores. "But, I'm still here because-"

"We don't need to talk about-"

"No." She interrupts this time firmly and brooking no argument and he wonders if she's somehow met his mother behind his back. "I want to." She adds and then taking a look at him, then says quickly. "To talk, that is." She half-smiles nervously, he notes. Beautifully but, nervously. "Can we-" She gestures around them at his people who are trying not nearly hard enough to seem like they're not spying on him and his soulmate.

His people are trouble.

He's gonna need to hire new people. He swears.

"Get outta here?" He guesses and she grins fully now. "Gladly."

He wastes no time in walk them over to the spot in the jungle where he'd taken her that first time. The air still smelling dirt and untethered forest. Nevermind the fact that it's still very much tethered to a former dinosaur park/reserve.

"What it is that you wanted to talk about?"

She's standing in front of him now. Tension and nerves vibrating off of her body and onto him. The bond won't help either. Even though he's learned to control it and vice versa, there's just some things you can't completely feather out.

For her, it's his temper and for him, it's her natural anxiety.

"Annie-" He starts to say gently because she's kind of bouncing on her feet a bit like a child on medication and jesus, now he's starting to feel anxious.

"I asked Lowry about what happened." She blurts out, wincing immediately at the loudness of her voice as he stares back at her. "Here. On the island." She adds quickly.

"Here on the island-?"

"Yes. Here." She repeats and peering at him, elaborates cautiously. "Two months ago."

She adds this with a touch of trepidation, too and Owen isn't quite sure she shouldn't have because he's also not quite sure how he feels. Honestly, he hasn't exactly forgotten about that. He just hasn't given much thought, really, since Annie had walked into his life. He feels better. He sleeps better, even. He thinks less of the events that had transpired all that time ago.

Generally, it turns out, having his amazing soulmate around the island has made his life better.

And now she's bring it all back up again. He can't help but, think. And he has nary a goddamn clue how to feel about it.

He can feel all of it coming back to him.

Water. It's like being under water and drowning. His lungs unable to take in air. Fluid flooding and overtaking his senses. Smothering him. Killing him from the inside out. Taking away everything-

"Owen?"

She's here. She's right here with him. This isn't those two months ago. Back when he had thought he was gonna die without ever knowing her. His soulmate. According to fate, his one and only. the one made for him.

She doesn't mean him any harm. He should know that, right?

"Are you alright?" She asks him. Brows knitted together belying the alarm hidden away in her eyes at the swirl of emotion he's surely throwing her way. Voice up a pitch.

Stop it. Stop it, you're freaking her out. Enough!

"Yeah." He manages hoarsely. Clearing his throat before adding. "Yeah. I'm good."

She looks at him for a long time. Obviously trying to suss out whether he's being entirely honest with her before saying. "OK." Nodding to herself and then continuing on. "Look, I just... I got curious. I mean, it's probably none of my business." She counters quickly with a rapidly familiar nervousness and he realizes he's maybe just caused her to become even more anxious about confiding in him. Great. "It's just... I wanted to know how involved you were in, you know." She mutters before elaborating for him to hear. "And Lowry runs his mouth all the time and I thought I'd ask for information and well, he gave me more than enough."

She punctuates with a wide-eyed, nervous glance in his direction and he shuts his eyes. Breathes. In. Out. 

He opens them to look at her after he's calmed down some. "Okay."

"Okay?"

He nods. "Okay."

He knows he doesn't imagine the way her bunched-up-to-her-ears shoulders relax some as she gazes at him with those beautiful expressive eyes. Further softening his resolve. His heart.

Dammit.

And when she reaches out to take his hand, he not only allows it but, folds his fingers into hers. As though not much by choice. But, by instinct. His soul demanding he please it's other half.

"I just want you to know that..." He begins softly as he looks down at their hands.  _Perfect fit._ "You can talk to me." His eyes shift to her. She looks right back at him. "You can come to me. We're soulmates. It's why I'm here. And I'm here for you."

He stares at her. Thinking of everything that happened all that time ago. What felt like all that time ago.

But, mostly he thinks about what a good woman his other half is. What a decent soul is connected to his own.

And he wonders sometimes how crazy he's become about her in such a short period of time?

He finds himself saying. "And you, too."

She frowns and he adds. "You can come to me, too. I may not the most comforting boyfriend." Her eyes widen a touch and he offers a half-smile in return because yeah, he said it. "But, I want that. To be there for you, too."

And he's never been more certain of anything in his life. 

 

 

They head back to the paddock and he asks her to wait for him while he heads to the other side to have a talk with Rick, his head crew guy.

Something nags at him, though, as he walks away from her chatting with Barry near the walkway, the duo switching back and forth between French and English.

 _She's fine. It's alright._ He tells himself sternly and with force, his gut wanting to yank him in the opposite direction. 

He hasn't felt this kind of sensation since they first met. His whole being unable to let him stay away from her for long.

Not he ever really  _wants to_ , mind you, but still...

He leaves.

He shouldn't have.

He lets himself lose his thoughts in his meeting. Rick is a good guy. Solid. Mindful. Into the details of things.

One of the main reasons he'd made him head of his crew.

He's talking to Rick. Just in the middle of discussing protocol around the girls and better safety measures when-

He feels it: His stomach dropping to his feet. His palm burning.  _Badly._ His body practically  _screaming_ at him to head back. To leave. To-

He hears her scream just as he starts running.

And the sight that greets him is one he had never thought would be part of his nightmares.

 

 

(She remembers falling. Falling further and further down- Her head hurts! Why does her arm feel like it's burning?! Oh god, her head hurts so much! 

 _Owen._ Her soul calls softly.  _Owen. Please help me._ )

 

 

The minute he's arrived within the gates of the paddock, he knows there's something wrong. Everybody that's supposed to be calmly surveying the surroundings for no danger or keep watch on the girls are  _losing their shit._

His eyes, however, are looking for one single person.

He can't find her anywhere.

And he soon finds out why, because as everyone is in a panic and flurry of activity and there's shouting and noise-

-He finally sees why.

Because in the middle of it. Right in the middle of all the scuffle. Inside the paddock. With the girls... Lies his soulmate.

Unconscious. Her body curled into itself. Face, even at his vantage point, he could see scrunched up in pain.

Oh no.

He wants to run again. Needs to get to her.

Yet he's never been so frozen in his life.

The girls (his girls) are circling her and his gut clenches and tightens and god, he can't breathe anymore and they could hurt her in there- They could-

Only... They don't.

He watches with absolute fear and wonder as Blue - his beta, his firstborn, his second - leans down...

God, don't hurt her. Please, please don't hurt her-

...And, to his (visceral, searing) shock, sniffs at the better half of his soul. Her sisters, the pack, surrounding her, as if they're-

They're protecting her. He concludes with no small amount of surprise and utter disbelief. 

"Wait." He says, blocking Barry from trying to interfere himself. "Look."

His friend follows his eyes to the paddock.

"No." The Frenchman utters next to him at the sight of four prehistoric predators providing a protective circle around an unconscious, wounded human woman. "That's not... possible."

"Isn't it, though?" He mutters, still wowed and not believing his eyes. 

He makes a silent gesture to his people. All having gone silent at the unbelievable sight at the same time.

He quietly opens the inner gate. Keeping his steps and gait steady. Calm. As relaxed as he could be as his heart is going crazy with worry.

Four snarling heads turn his way in the same instance. Yellow, vicious gazes settling on him as they hiss at the supposed intrusion.

"Hey." He utters, palms up and at the ready, voice low and soothing. "I'm not here to hurt her." He adds, guessing.

They're not displeased because he's taking away potential food but, rather precious cargo. Something they're protecting. Providing shelter for.

He is... really freaking out right now.

This has never happened before and even though the girls don't look like they want to harm his soulmate, the sight of her, pale and hurt, tugs at his territorial instincts.

Something dark and foreign - something  _possessive_ , guttural, pure and primal - echoes low in his body and he runs with it.

"She's mine." He says, half trying for a language that they could maybe understand better and half the whole damn truth. "I need her. Please." He pleads.

Blue turns again after they all four regard him for a long moment, snout huffing as she lowers again. Sniffing at his vulnerable soulmate's head. Batting at it gently. As though checking to see if she's alright enough to leave with him.

His chest goes tight again as the woman curled on the ground frowns without stirring. A soft whine escaping her as Blue nudges her slightly.

Then, it happens. 

They part. Finally. 

They give him an opening.

And he takes it.

 

 

(She's feeling it again. White-hot pain trailing up and down her arm. She can hear voices. Some loud. Some... lower. Calmer. Relaxing her almost. 

She can't really make it out. That one voice. Deep. Steady.  _So lovely._

She wants to reach for it. That beautiful, wonderful voice. She wants to hold onto and curl into that voice.

It makes her feel... warm. Protected. Safe. Her center expanding to welcome it. A pair of strong arms circling and lifting her.

 _Owen._ She thinks she whispers. Aching. In need. Her being depending on it.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sooooo beyond sorry! It has been inappropriately long! All I can say I'm flighty and forgetful and my muse is fickle. I have no more excuses than that. *goes and hides*
> 
> Thank you for reading if you're still with me.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it! Be kind and constructive and let me know if you would like more. Don't shit on me, my story, or the movie. Don't wanna hear it. Have nothing nice to say. Don't say anything at all. Seriously.


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